

World View: Property from a Private Collection
157
Edward Burtynsky
Wushan #1, Yangtze River, China
- Estimate
- $15,000 - 25,000
Lot Details
Chromogenic print.
2002
25 x 60 in. (63.5 x 152.4 cm)
Overall 38 1/4 x 72 1/4 in. (97.2 x 183.5 cm)
Overall 38 1/4 x 72 1/4 in. (97.2 x 183.5 cm)
Signed in ink, printed title, date and number 4/5 on a label affixed to the reverse of the mount.
Specialist
Full-Cataloguing
Catalogue Essay
Edward Burtynsky has devoted his career to documenting human impact upon the planet. His work in China, begun in the early 2000s, has yielded some of the most dramatic photographs in an oeuvre replete with vivid imagery. Burtynsky approaches his subjects armed with in-depth research and then exploits photography’s unique ability to capture extreme detail so that no aspect of his subject goes unrecorded. A master technician, Burtynsky produces large format prints that contain more information than the human eye can process at once.
Provenance
Edward Burtynsky
Canadian | 1955Universally termed 'industrial landscapes', Edward Burtynsky's photographs are rooted in the complex, symbiotic and, at times, destructive relationship we have with the earth. In depicting his subjects, Burtynsky balances an exacting, documentarian objectivity with a breathtakingly finessed beauty. His oversized works, whose subjects include quarries in Vermont, shipyards in China and oil refineries in Canada, have a sense of grandiosity and monumentality. There is an initial visual appeal of vibrant colors, details and scale; however, on closer inspection, the environmental dilemma unfolds. They are introspective and meditative, capturing a 'contemplative moment' where landscapes provide visual and emotional resonance.
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