Henry Leutwyler, Ballet, 2012
After four years of collaboration with Peter Martins and the New York City Ballet, Henry Leutwyler was granted unprecedented backstage access to the Company during the winter of 2012. The resulting book, Ballet, reflects thirty years of his passion for the art form, realised in thirty days of photography. Leutwyler inhabited the shadows of the stage and became “invisible”, recording images of the dancers using nothing more than his 35mm Leica. He was able to explore the performers’ personal space, affording a more abstract portrait – a visual slice of their frenzied existence in an art form predicated on perfection. Ballet is an homage to the gritty universe from behind the curtain, and a complement to its ethereal beauty as viewed from the front row.
With impresario Lincoln Kirstein, George Balanchine co-created the New York City Ballet in 1948. What followed is arguably one the most revolutionary periods in ballet history as he redefined the art form, introducing abstract works performed with a signature speed, musicality, and precision. Under the leadership of Peter Martins, these are the hallmarks of the Company to this day.
Clothbound Hardcover, 22 x 30 cm, 488 pages $250.00 SIGNED
Price includes shipping within the United States
Henry Leutwyler, Neverland Lost: A Portrait of Michael Jackson, Steidl, 2010
Prior to Michael Jackson's death, Henry Leutwyler photographed crates of artifacts removed from Jackson's Neverland ranch in California. The resulting series of photographs document the inner turmoil of the public person who chose to model his private life on Peter Pan and the Lost Boys - children who never wanted to grow up. Leutwyler's unemotional portraits are almost too intimate to behold, but when one digs beneath the surface, what emerges is the profound truth of a star's sequestered reality. Leutwyler's photographs unearth the "Lost Boy" forced to leave Neverland, and now these still lifes are as close as anyone will ever get to what Jackson once had, and ultimately left behind.
"I have an urge to investigate people I have never met" says Swiss-born Henry Leutwyler. With twenty-five years experience creating portraits that document the famous and powerful, he has turned his gaze on the belongings that surround the individual. A self-taught youth who began his career by photographing "cheese and chocolates", Leutwyler is a visual archaeologist. His work drills deep, allowing the objects to reveal more than the subjects themselves.
Hardcover, 8 x 11 inches, 96 pages $150.00 Signed
Price includes shipping within the United States
First edition copies are sold out. A limited amount of signed copies are available at the gallery.