Synopses & Reviews
Weighted with heavy, nineteenth-century camera equipment, Vittorio Sella climbed some of the world's most mysterious, perilous peaks and photographed them, many for the first time. His strikingly elegant photographs, which in Ansel Adams's words, "revealed [the mountains] in all their sheer majesty," offer groundbreaking scientific and documentary information as well. Climbers today still use Sella's pictures to map out routes and to better comprehend their challenges and the magnificence to come.
Through Sella's images, we can witness the grandeur of the world's greatest peaks; the Russian Caucasus, the Saint Elias Range in Alaska, Mount Ruwenzori in Africa, the Kanchenjunga in the Himalayas. His photographic documentation of these peaks had no precedents and has few, if any, equals.
Greg Child is a mountaineer and author of Thin Air (Dell, 1993). Wendy Watson is curator of exhibitions at Mount Holyoke College. Paul Kallmes, a renowned member of the American Alpine Club, has worked closely with the Fondazione Sella for several years.
Published in association with Fondazione Sella and the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum.
Synopsis
Vittorio Sella brought down the mountains. Weighted with heavy nineteenth-century camera equipment, he climbed some of the world's most mysterious, perilous peaks and photographed them, many for the first time.
Through Sella's images, the world witnessed the grandeur of the Russian Caucasus, the St. Elias Range in Alaska, Mount Ruwenzori in Africa, and the Kanchenjunga in the Himalaya. Sella's portfolio of K2 in Pakistan is the definitive photographic study of this summit, considered to be the world's most difficult and dangerous; climbers still use Sella's pictures to map out routes to the top. The book will include roughly 125 duotone, vintage photographs -- including two gatefolds of Sella's most dramatic panoramas.
Description
Includes bibliographical references, p. (139-140).