Sieff by Jeanloup Sieff.
Published by Taschen. ISBN-10: 382284439X
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Jeanloup Sieff was born in 1933, in Paris, to parents of Eastern European origin. He first became interested in photography when he received a Photax plastic camera on his fourteenth birthday. In 1953 he attended the Vaugirard School of Photography in Paris and later the Vevey School in Switzerland. After a brief stint as a reporter Sieff began a long love affair with fashion, the female form and dance. In 1958 he joined the celebrated Magnum Agency.
The work of this much loved and hugely influential photographer has been widely published in magazines such as Esquire, Glamour, Vogue and Harpers Bazaar and he was awarded the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres in Paris in 1981 and the Grand Prix National de la Photographie in 1992. Sadly, on September 20th 2000, Jeanloup Sieff died in Paris at the age of 66.
Drawing from a body of stunning, yet subtle, monochromatic images, created throughout his forty year career and covering subjects as diverse as landscapes, abstracts,
fashion and the nude - Sieff is a 288 page, hard-backed, coffee table monograph, printed to a high standard, on heavy weight art paper and divided into four chapters that cover the 1950s through to the 1990s. Sieff has also authored introductions to each section that are both humorous and informative.
Sieff claimed that he didn't "give a damn about what will survive! I have never thought of building a monument to my own glory, however relative that may be. I do things as they come and because I like doing them" - despite his protestations Jeanloup's photography will continue to survive him. As a monograph Sieff lends itself to repeat viewing and makes a great introduction to the work of a master photographer who is sorely missed - an artist who made images simply because he liked making them. Seek out a copy now!
Review by Christopher John Ball
**** Rating
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