At the bookshop in the Tate Modern last weekend I picked up this curious book:
Scattered throughout the book I came across several photographs of ancient sculpture (all women).
Some were frontal views of well-preserved busts:
Others were frontal views of broken figures:
Some were side-views of well-preserved busts:
Others were side views of broken figures:
Some were broken busts on the right-hand page:
Some were well-preserved figures across two pages:
Others were broken busts on the left-hand page:
On turning back to the contents page, I discovered that all of them were the work of Sara VanDerBeek from a series called Roman Women.
I left the Tate Modern bookshop wanting to know more about these strange ancient photographic sculptures and when I was finally able discover more online by searching on GoogleImage, I was startled to find that those I could find were all, in some way, the colour blue.
Some were blue frontal views of broken figures:
Others were blue frontal views of well-preserved busts:
Some were blue frontal views of blurred broken figures:
Others were blue blurred close-up views of (broken?) figures:
Some were double blue portraits facing the same directions:
Others were blue double portraits facing slightly different directions:
Both my experience with the book in the Tate and the GoogleImage results online had the same effect: I want to see these photographs in the flesh.
For more on Sara VanDerBeek go here.
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