Joel Meyerowitz - St. Louis & The Arch

1st edition published by the New York Graphic Society, 1980
Format: Hardback with dustjacket, 270x250mm
Pages: 112
Condition: Good. Some evident shelf wear to dustjacket and general signs of age.

At the invitation of The St. Louis Art Museum, Joel Meyerowitz came to St. Louis to record photographically the look and spirit of the city. The Gateway Arch, Eero Saarinen's monumental sculpture, which dominates the city, became at once the the subject and nonsubject of Meyerowitz's photographs. In some of the photographs, one has to search to find it; in others, it fills the frame.

Clearly, the Arch exerted a powerful force on Meyerowitz's vision. He speaks of it as a mirror, sundial, tuning fork, pyramid — a mysterious, changing presence that transforms the space around it and the city itself.

Four visits and 400 negatives later, Meyerowitz's portrait of the city emerged — a revealing record of its history and architecture, its life and presence. The St. Louis seen here no longer depends on the Mississippi that fed and built it; now the Arch, the city's gate and icon, is central.