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The many faces of Christ
The author is curator of photography at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and has produced here an unusual book. Where else might you find Julia Margaret Cameron alongside Sam Taylor-Wood, or Paul Strand in company with Andres Serrano? In an historical review of the medium, for sure, but strange bedfellows none-the-less. The ‘representations’ are taken in the very widest sense to the extent that it is not always possible to spot the connection, but there is no shortage of Madonnas, crucifixions, Last Suppers, stigmata… you name it. And a surprisingly interesting book it is too. Although most of the photographers are familiar – Man Ray, Lewis Hine, Mapplethorpe, Saudek, Leibowitz and a predictable sprinkling of 18th Century Anons – many of the images are not; and that is slightly surprising and therefore interesting. A substantial essay by the author precedes the plates and in it Perez compares and contrasts the century and a half of photographic tradition with 2000 years of painting. This is a stimulating book with the deconstruction of many of the images providing a similar intellectual challenge to a cryptic crossword. Illuminating and enjoyable, but I admit I still can’t get 7 across.
Revelation: Representations of Christ in Photography, by Nissan N Perez, published by Merrell, £30, ISBN 1 85894 225 X.
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