waterforms
Photographs by Dorothy Kerper Monnelly
Introduction by Arthur Ollman
From ice and snow patterns, to the rounded rocks of Acadia National Park’s shoreline, and the sinuous kelp and wind scoured sand of the California coast, waterforms (published: Kettler Verlag, 2016) presents a stunning collection of seventy black and white photographic abstractions, capturing the effects of water on the shoreline environment and natural surfaces. This body of work, taken with her signature 4×5 camera, was created over thirty-five years.
“Dorothy Kerper Monnelly frames her images for maximum abstract effect, surgically cutting away the extraneous including reference to a horizon line, and often anything that might indicate scale … It is this delight in design that Kerper Monnelly has exercised in much of her work.” —Arthur Ollman, founding Director of MOPA, in his introduction to the book
Kerper Monnelly’s large format black and white abstractions provide a departure from reality, sometimes slight, sometimes partial, and in the case of her Ice Patterns the move to abstraction is complete. However, the origin is always nature; unmanipulated, and unstaged. Through her observations Kerper Monnelly refined her own visual language, a lyrical abstraction, encompassing fundamental changes taking place by photographing with a unique point of view.
“Fine Art Photography is the language of the inner eye – the inner self that responds without knowing. It is an intuitive dialogue that speaks as an image. It is a search for truth … for the song!” —Dorothy Kerper Monnelly
9.75 in x 12 in, 156 pgs, 70 b&w duotone plates, Hardcover with tipped-on photo
PURCHASE BOOK / USA (English: Amazon.com)
PURCHASE BOOK / Europe (English: Verlag Kettler)
PURCHASE BOOK / Europe (French: Amazon.fr)