Mark Steinmetz

• Nazraeli Press 2024
• Hardback, 1st edition, 80p
• New

American photographer Mark Steinmetz photographed the people and environs of Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport between 2012 and 2019 as part of the High Museum of Art’s Picturing the South series, a photographic archive that examines a range of themes specific to the American South. 

The 64 black-and-white images in ATL emphasize “the quiet transitional moments in this liminal world,” writes curator Gregory J. Harris in the volume’s introduction. Steinmetz captures “the more introspective moments” of travel in and out of the world’s most heavily trafficked airport and includes travelers of all ages “leaving one chapter of their lives and going to another,” as the artist stated in a 2019 interview at the museum. Airline pilots, ground personnel, flight attendants, and janitors are also pictured, always working, often waiting; they share a space with the travelers but remain apart. 

Steinmetz also turns his focus to the open spaces around the airport, presenting vast, overgrown, and often unpeopled areas that provide a sharp contrast to the busy workings of the airport and its constantly changing population. A selection of images taken from aircraft windows depict the graphic beauty of clouds, light streaks, and jet trails, echoing the “sense of levity and mystery” felt by those traveling, as well as those viewing the photographs. 

Though taken over a period of years, this collection of images evokes the distinct timelessness of air travel, “capturing ordinary yet captivating human dramas that play out in the public spaces across the airport.” ATL is the 15th volume of Mark Steinmetz’s work published by Nazraeli Press. 

• Nazraeli Press 2024
• Hardback, 1st edition
• New

“In the summer of 1987, I was 26 years old, a couple years out of graduate school, and living in a derelict apartment outside of Boston. I had received an artist’s residency in the South of France, and so, in August, I flew to Paris. I stayed a few weeks with close family friends in a top floor apartment on the Avenue de Wagram. My friends were working in fashion and film, and I was told my bed had once belonged to Jane Fonda before she became Barbarella. The weather was getting colder, and they gave me a brown corduroy jacket to wear that Jean Seberg (Godard’s Breathless, Preminger’s Bonjour Tristesse) had cried on. I would eat some breakfast and run around Paris photographing all day—hardly eating because I had no money—returning to their apartment for dinner and a glass of champagne. 

Later in the year, I went to the South to begin my artist’s residency at the Camargo Foundation, in Cassis, a town on the sea not far from Marseille. The writer Virginia Woolf, the pointillist Paul Signac, the fauvists André Derain and Raoul Dufy, and the Provençal poet Frédéric Mistral, had spent extended periods of time in Cassis. I took day trips from Cassis to Arles, Aix, Marseille, and Nice, and could process my film in the simple darkroom that was supplied to me.

In 1987, there were no cell phones or digital cameras. To meet up with someone you had to set a time and a place and each of you had to stick to the plan. The seasons seemed to linger around more, and in general, everyone seemed to have more time. The parks, museums, and subways were less crowded. The rhythm of daily life was more relaxed. People were worried in 1987, but not as worried as we are now.” – From the Introduction by Mark Steinmetz

This wonderful collection of previously unpublished photographs by Mark Steinmetz, made some 35 years ago during an extended stay in the South of France, provides welcome insight into his earliest years as a working artist. It comprises over 60 photographs beautifully printed in duotone on Japanese Kasadaka art paper, and bound in Burgundy linen. Limited to only 1,000 casebound copies, France 1987 will sell out quickly.

• Stanley Barker 2016
• Softcover, 1st edition
• New
  

Mark Steinmetz ‘15 Miles to K-Ville’ is a poetic journey around the outskirts of K-Ville: a fictional town somewhere between Knoxville, Tennessee and Athens, Georgia, where graves dot the terrain and a sense of forbidding hangs heavy in the air.

This collection of darkly humorous and melancholy portraits and landscapes date from the early 1990s when the American photographer was moving between these two cities.

I love the South for its warmth and chaos. The vegetation down here grows rampant; the light is softened by humid air. The people are for the most part friendly and they are comfortable in their bodies. They tend to be more open to being photographed by a stranger. The unexpected happens here a lot. — Mark Steinmetz

Sealed copy.

• Stanley Barker 2021
• Hardback, 1st edition, 208p
• New
  

The photographs in Mark Steinmetz's expansive new book Rivers & Towns were made in the 1980s in working class towns and cities in Connecticut, USA. 

"The brooding factories and mills built alongside rivers had seen their heyday and were beginning to decline. I was moved by these places and wanted to describe the bridges, houses, and streets, and to show something of people's inner lives. At the same time, I was trying to discover myself as a photographer." - Mark Steinmetz 

• Nazraeli 2020
• Hardback, 1st edition with print, 16pp
• New

Mark Steinmetz’s first book of cat photographs, Ancient Tigers of My Neighborhood, was published in a limited edition as part of our Six by Six series, and was nominated by Robert Adams as a “Best Book of 2010” at the Kassel Photobook Festival in Germany. For his first contribution to our new One Picture Book Two series, Steinmetz again has chosen cats as the subject and we are pleased to make this aspect of the artist’s work available to a wider audience.

Beautifully printed on Matt art paper, Cats features fourteen never before published photographs of cats and kittens making themselves at home in Athens, Georgia.

Mark Steinmetz is a Guggenheim Fellow, and his work is included in the permanent collections of many important institutions, including Museum of Modern Art, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Art Institute of Chicago; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. 

Cats is limited to 500 numbered copies, each including a 5x7 inch original print that has been signed by the artist (see colour image).

Out of print, final copies.

• Kominek 2020
• Hardback, 1st edition
• New

From 2012 to 2019 Mark Steinmetz took photos on the streets of Berlin. This work now comes together in the book Berlin Pictures.

Steinmetz visited Berlin between 2012 and 2019, each time photographing its streets and citizens with the care and compassion that he reserves for all of his subjects. Within his images of Berlin, we find the closeness of couples and strangers that we find in many of his works and yet, Mark adds a new layer to the work by investigating details of the city itselfits architecture and its streets align in Mark’s viewfinder and he renders each frame, inhabited or not, with an eye for the details of the moment. Berlin is a unique city and Mark adds a new layer, one less marginalized by the weight of history, but rather by the acceptance of its condition of present being in his Berlin Pictures.' - Brad Feuerhelm

• Kominek 2020
• Hardback, 1st edition
• New

From 2012 to 2019 Mark Steinmetz took photos on the streets of Berlin. This work now comes together in the book Berlin Pictures.

Steinmetz visited Berlin between 2012 and 2019, each time photographing its streets and citizens with the care and compassion that he reserves for all of his subjects. Within his images of Berlin, we find the closeness of couples and strangers that we find in many of his works and yet, Mark adds a new layer to the work by investigating details of the city itselfits architecture and its streets align in Mark’s viewfinder and he renders each frame, inhabited or not, with an eye for the details of the moment. Berlin is a unique city and Mark adds a new layer, one less marginalized by the weight of history, but rather by the acceptance of its condition of present being in his Berlin Pictures.' - Brad Feuerhelm

Note: signed edition shown in video.

• Nazraeli 2020
• Hardback, set of 3 books in slipcase
• New

The collector’s edition of the “South Trilogy” comprises numbered and signed copies of all 3 books, presented in a custom made slipcase. Limited to 250 copies.

Highly regarded for his black-and-white portraits, Mark Steinmetz is renowned for producing powerful pictures that capture the strong sense of displacement and isolation felt by many young Americans. His celebrated trilogy “South” (consisting of South Central, South East, and Greater Atlanta) was published by Nazraeli Press between 2007 and 2009, and offers a lyrical and evocative look at American culture and notions of progress. The format, sequence and design are true to the original printings. The materials, however, have been upgraded, and the book is printed in quadratone on a special matte art paper.

• Nazraeli 2020
• Hardback, 2nd edition
• New
  

Mark Steinmetz completes his powerful and moving trilogy, 'South', with Greater Atlanta. Photographing in Atlanta and its outlying regions, Steinmetz provides his testimony on contemporary American civilization. Combining portraits and landscapes, he weaves a symbolic and lyrical investigation that subtly questions notions of progress. He further develops motifs — on the automobile, on the telephone — that were first introduced in 'South Central', and catalogues car culture, fast food, convenience stores, and suburban sprawl.

Highly regarded for his black-and-white portraits, Mark Steinmetz is renowned for producing powerful pictures that capture the strong sense of displacement and isolation felt by many young Americans. His celebrated trilogy “South” (consisting of South Central, South East, and Greater Atlanta) was published by Nazraeli Press between 2007 and 2009, and offers a lyrical and evocative look at American culture and notions of progress.

The new, remastered edition of these three important titles follows the format, sequence and design ofthe original printings. The materials, however, have been upgraded; the books are now bound in cloth over board, and printed in quadratone on a special matte art paper. Long out of print, South Central, South East and Greater Atlanta have been elusive goals for many libraries. This remastered release will be a welcome addition to any good library of photographic books.x

• Nazraeli 2020
• Hardback, 2nd edition
• New
  

Designed as a companion book to his critically-acclaimed monograph South Central, Mark Steinmetz here turns his focus to Athens and Atlanta, New Orleans, Memphis and East Tennessee, and the roads between.

“Mark Steinmetz works in a venerable tradition of photographic prowling that bets everything on the ordinary. Each picture is the fruit of an unplanned encounter: Though the photographer may know more or less where he is going, he can’t know precisely what he will find. An accumulation of these improvised perceptions can make both a world and a way of looking at it.” — from the Introduction by Peter Galassi

Highly regarded for his black-and-white portraits, Mark Steinmetz is renowned for producing powerful pictures that capture the strong sense of displacement and isolation felt by many young Americans. His celebrated trilogy “South” (consisting of South Central, South East, and Greater Atlanta) was published by Nazraeli Press between 2007 and 2009, and offers a lyrical and evocative look at American culture and notions of progress.

The new, remastered edition of these three important titles follows the format, sequence and design ofthe original printings. The materials, however, have been upgraded; the books are now bound in cloth over board, and printed in quadratone on a special matte art paper. Long out of print, South Central, South East and Greater Atlanta have been elusive goals for many libraries. This remastered release will be a welcome addition to any good library of photographic books.

• Nazraeli 2020
• Hardback, 2nd edition
• New
  

Renowned for his modest yet powerful photographs that capture the sense of displacement and isolation felt by many young Americans, Mark Steinmetz photographed in and around Knoxville, Tennessee to create the work that makes up South Central. The title of the book is derived from the South Central Bell telephone company that serves Knoxville, and their public pay phones are a recurring theme in this work; an iconic reminder of the area's socio-economic condition. The artist possesses an uncanny ability to pull folly, aggression and tenderness through his lens simultaneously, and delivers with this book a powerful and touching visual novel of the human condition.

Highly regarded for his black-and-white portraits, Mark Steinmetz is renowned for producing powerful pictures that capture the strong sense of displacement and isolation felt by many young Americans. His celebrated trilogy “South” (consisting of South Central, South East, and Greater Atlanta) was published by Nazraeli Press between 2007 and 2009, and offers a lyrical and evocative look at American culture and notions of progress.

The new, remastered edition of these three important titles follows the format, sequence and design ofthe original printings. The materials, however, have been upgraded; the books are now bound in cloth over board, and printed in quadratone on a special matte art paper. Long out of print, South Central, South East and Greater Atlanta have been elusive goals for many libraries. This remastered release will be a welcome addition to any good library of photographic books.

• Nazraeli 2019
  
• Hardback, 1st edition / 1st printing
  
• New
  

The newest monograph on the work of photographer Mark Steinmetz is a collection of photographs that capture the spirit of youth during trips spent away at a summer camp.

"Two projects I focused on were little league baseball and summer camps. Every year, from spring into summer, one would lead into another and certain things never changed…At summer camp, you have sleeping bags, cabins and camp res. There isn’t much difference between them in 1990 or 1965.

I like that time of age, too. There’s a kind of grave maturity developing at around 11 years old. When a little kid laughs or cries, it doesn’t have real resonance, whereas if someone has these emotions between eight and 12, there’s a poignancy to it. 

When they become adults, it’s just not the same. Many of these photos are about the predicament of being a kid put into a certain situation. In one picture, these girls who have been so horrible to each other all summer are now parting – and the depth of their love just gushes out. It’s almost excruciating..." — Mark Steinmetz, for Huck Mag

Final copies of the out of print 1st edition, 1st printing.

• Nazraeli 2019
• Hardback, 1st edition
  
• New
  

Summer Camp, the newest monograph on the work of photographer Mark Steinmetz, is a collection of photographs that capture the spirit of youth during trips spent away at a summer camp.

"Two projects I focused on were little league baseball and summer camps. Every year, from spring into summer, one would lead into another and certain things never changed…At summer camp, you have sleeping bags, cabins and camp res. There isn’t much difference between them in 1990 or 1965.

I like that time of age, too. There’s a kind of grave maturity developing at around 11 years old. When a little kid laughs or cries, it doesn’t have real resonance, whereas if someone has these emotions between eight and 12, there’s a poignancy to it. 

When they become adults, it’s just not the same. Many of these photos are about the predicament of being a kid put into a certain situation. In one picture, these girls who have been so horrible to each other all summer are now parting – and the depth of their love just gushes out. It’s almost excruciating..." — Mark Steinmetz, for Huck Mag

Signed and numbered edition of 100 copies, presented in a custom cloth covered slipcase.

• Stanley Barker 2019
  
• Hardback, 1st edition
  
• New

From 1982-2001 the American photographer Mark Steinmetz travelled to country fairs, urban street fairs, and small circuses across the United States, to make photographs of the families, teens and carnies that contain all the warmth and frenetic energy of a day at the Carnival. 

“People from all walks of life go to the fair seeking something to transport them from the everyday. Amid the excitement and sounds of the rides and games, I could slip by largely unnoticed and capture gestures and faces.” - Mark Steinmetz

Out of print, rare title.

• Stanley Barker 2019
  
• Hardback, 1st edition with print
  
• New
  

From 1982-2001 the American photographer Mark Steinmetz travelled to country fairs, urban street fairs, and small circuses across the United States, to make photographs of the families, teens and carnies that contain all the warmth and frenetic energy of a day at the Carnival. 

“People from all walks of life go to the fair seeking something to transport them from the everyday. Amid the excitement and sounds of the rides and games, I could slip by largely unnoticed and capture gestures and faces.” - Mark Steinmetzx

• Nazraeli 2019
  
• Hardback, 1st edition
  
• Fine

“I am now the same age that Garry Winogrand had been when I knew him – 56. I was just 22 then and now wonder why he had be willing to spend some time with someone so young. I must have come across as OK and probably mentioned some of the right names: Friedlander, Wessel, Zulpo-Dane. Once he called me up (the first time was startling to me as he must have looked up my name in the phone book) to see what I was up to the next day. I said, “If it’s sunny, I’m going to photograph; if it’s rainy, I’m going to print.” “Likewise,” he said. Maybe in some ways we were similar.

One day I asked Garry to go with me to photograph at the LA Zoo and he agreed. We had a full day and shot until the light faded. As we were nearing the exit, Garry spotted Bernadette Peters, the famous movie and Broadway actress, who was visiting the zoo with her boyfriend. Garry photographed her before on the set of John Huston’s movie, Annie. She and her boyfriend were dressed in identical jeans and jackets. Strikingly, they both had the same drooping, poodle-like hairstyle. Surprised, she threw her head back and shrieked with delight when Garry swooped in to take their picture. Out in the parking lot he sank into the passenger seat and said, “Boy, you don’t know how tired you are till you sit down.” 

In February of 1984, I called him up to say I had decided to leave town and move back east. His voice on the other end of the phone sounded terrible, very weak. I had no idea what was going on with him – it was shocking. He wished me “the best of luck.” The following month, a couple weeks before my 23rd birthday, I was at my parents’ house in Hartford and my mother brought me the New York Times. Without saying a word, she pointed to Garry’s obituary. During the time we spent together, there had been a cancer growing inside of him but he didn’t know it. Garry was always looking outward, beyond himself.

We are pleased to announce the publication of Volume 3 in Mark Steinmetz’s trilogy Angel City West. Building upon the narrative he began with Volumes 1 & 2, Steinmetz presents 54 previously unpublished photographs made during his stay in Los Angeles in 1981–84. 

Edition of 350 signed and numbered copies. 

Book in as new condition, some possible light indentations to the slipcase (common).

• Stanley Barker 2018
• Hardback, 1st edition
  
• Fine
  

Mark Steinmetz’s new book Past K-Ville is a poetic collection of photographs dating from the mid-1990s, that were made on road trips throughout the American South: Memphis, Atlanta, New Orleans, Chattanooga, and Athens, Georgia. Spray-painted rumours of romance punctuate a world comprised largely of teenagers and young couples.

"I love the South for its warmth and chaos. The vegetation down here grows rampant; the light is softened by humid air. The people are for the most part friendly and they are comfortable in their bodies. They tend to be more open to being photographed by a stranger. The unexpected happens here a lot." - Mark Steinmetz

Recommended.

• Nazraeli 2017
  
• Hardback, 1st edition
  
• New
  

“Mark Steinmetz makes photographs of ordinary people in the ordinary landscapes they inhabit. His frames document those fluid moments of real, lived life, moments not just grabbled or stolen, but ones where he says, ‘It’s important to take an internal pause.’ An element of the seeming offhand magic in his photographs is how his sense of this “internal pause,” of a near cinematic freeze frame, only enhances his images’ apparent spontaneity. The best art often hides its technique . . . Steinmetz is, in fact, is a “street” photographer: a 21st century embodiment of the 19th century flâneur, a man in the world, sensitive to ephemeral moments as photographic capsules of our larger lives. This will come as no surprise to anyone who knows Steinmetz’s artistic history as a mentee of Garry Winogrand. 

You don’t have to be a creature of the urban streetscapes that Steinmetz so closely observes in this book in order to “get” his work. From his books of photographs of Greater Atlanta, to the small world of a children’s baseball diamond in The Players, Mark Steinmetz’s camera focuses closely on these ordinary, even banal, moments of people’s daily lives, even when in some images, the people themselves are absent at the instant of the camera exposure. Like the more formal compositions of Cartier-Bresson, Steinmetz’s photographs capture their own “decisive moment,” less stylized for sure, but often more animated: simply the images of an “American” photographer.” — From the Introduction by John Bailey

• Nazraeli 2015
  
• Hardback, 1st edition
  
• New
  

This long-awaited publication presents 73 of Steinmetz’s photographs of adolescent and teenaged baseball players, on the field and in the dugout, focused on the game and lost in their own worlds. Made between 1986 and 1990, the photographs are classic Steinmetz: tenderness, humor, and humanism are all present here, as is Steinmetz’s exquisite use of natural light and attention to poetic detail.

“The kids in Steinmetz’s photographs are ages 6 to 13, with a few older boys. Steinmetz must remember how awkward and uncoordinated bodies that age can be. His empathy is evident throughout the series. Most of these kids are too young to have the grace, skill or concentration required and are too green to experience the sheer pleasure of knowing they are good, maybe really good, ballplayers in an unforgiving sport. These kids run into each other in pursuit of a fly ball. Hope drives their swings more than their awareness of the art of hitting...Steinmetz concentrates less on the players in the field than those outside the base lines who are waiting to play, or cooling off. He observes the managers as well as the spectators who love the game or one of the players, or who just have a free afternoon. He sees “high fives” as well as the “what were you thinking” moments.  His photographs have all the skill and grace lacking in the players.” — from the Introduction by Anne Tucker

This first printing of The Players is limited to 1,000 casebound copies