The New West, by Robert Adams
Steidl Verlag; €35
Robert Adams’ New West, captured in 1974, offers a snapshot of the Southwest at a time when it was grappling with the loss of its open land and wrangling with what would eventually fill it: suburbs, freeways, low-tract homes and businesses…
The essay sits alongside the likes of Walker Evan’s American Photographs and Robert Frank’s Americans as an important documentation of American culture in the 20th century. As MOMA’s John Szarkowski wrote in its original foreword: ‘Adams’ pictures are so civilized, temperate, and exact… that some viewers might find them dull… Other viewers… may find in these pictures nourishment, surprise, instruction, clarification, challenge, and perhaps hope.’
Pictured: Pike’s Peak, gas station (c) Robert Adams