"CZECH EDEN" par Matthew MONTEITH. Editions Aperture Foundation, New York. 2007. Edition originale. Imprimé en Italie. Petit in-4 format oblong, couverture cartonnée crème sous jaquette photo. 80 pages. Texte en anglais, introduction par Ivan Klíma traduit en anglais par Gerald Turner, illustré de 58 reproductions photographiques couleurs, hors texte, par Matthew Monteith. 

 

"The title Czech Eden might have several connotations. Český Ráj, which can also be translated into English as "Czech paradise" or "Bohemian heaven," is the name of a UNESCO-recognized nature preserve, a remarkable rock formation of cretaceous sandstone just sixty miles northeast of Prague… But this is the title chosen by a young American photographer, and I shouldn't think he was motivated by any of the above-mentioned connotations… This Czech heaven is no heaven at all, quite simply because the present-day world itself is far from being a heaven, further perhaps than it was a century ago, because today's world is a world of lonely people. ln our country this loneliness, this mutual alienation, was perhaps most effectively portrayed by Franz Kafka; for me, Matthew Monteith's photographs are like a tour of the world as perceived by that literary genius. Those expecting this photographer to take them on a tourist trip around the Czech lands will be disappointed. If they are interested in that unique rock town, there are hundreds of photographs of it on the Internet. Instead, the modern world will confront them in a most compelling way, and they will encounter an original work of art that seeks to convey more than just information." Ivan Klíma.

 

Ref LPB1142