Sunprints
 Linda McCartney
 (Reviewed by The Editor - Rebecca Brown)
 2001 Bullfinch Press/Little, Brown & Co.
  ISBN: 0821227378


This photojournal grew out of this late-photographer's fascination with 19th century photographic printing & in particular with the technique of sun printing developed by W. H. Fox Talbot, the founder of the modern photographic process.

Sun printing relies on natural sunlight to produce an image on paper brushed with a mixture of minerals. Linda's sunprints have a mystical & elusive quality & in this modern woman's perspective we see combinations of spontaneous poses with still backgrounds; overlays & tonal changes in cyan & sepia.

Such gently detailed, whimsical & earthy sights of a boy print or an amarylis; a castle reflected in its watery moat; a terrace balustrade casting sunny shadows upon snow; a stalwart cactus in a desert or a triad of lanterns on a London bridge; of lively faces & ancient hands; of birds & beaches & seasons' abundance. Meditative, heart-warming, peaceable pictures, some simply swatches of brush strokes offering glimpses of scenes her eyes had seen.

More photojournals from Linda McCartney's life & times: Roadworks; Wide Open; 60s Portrait of an Era & Light from within also reviewed.

Linda McCartney's impressive portfolio has exhibited in major galleries around the world, including the International Center of Photography in New York; the Royal Photographic Society in Bath, England as well as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
(10/07/01)

Rebecca