Sally Mann is a famous American photographer. She has created an amazing series of photographs in the genres of still life, portrait and landscape. The most famous works of the master are inspired photographs of her husband and children.
Many of Mann's great photographs are from the architectural photography genre. Although at times the work of the photographer is heavily criticized, all agree on one thing: Mann's influence on contemporary art is invaluable.
The beginning of the creative path
A talented personality was born in 1951 in the city of Lexington. Sally was born on May 1st. She never left her native land for long, working exclusively in the southern United States. The photographer is sure that the extraordinary vision came from her father. Robert Munger worked as a gynecologist. In his spare time, he loved to do gardening. He has collected a unique collection of plants from all over the world. In addition, the father of the future celebrity was an amateur artist.
The girl studied the art of photography at the Vermont Photo School. She later admitted that the only motive for her studies was the opportunity to stay in a dark room to display pictures with her then boyfriend. The meeting with Larry, the future spouse, took place during his education in Bennington.
In 1974, Sally received an honors degree after studying for a year in Europe. Almost a year later, she became an MA in Literature. Until her thirties, Mann wrote and filmed at the same time. First achievements The first exhibition of the master was held in 1977 in Washington. The emergence of a new genius attracted the attention of many connoisseurs of photography.
They began to follow the work of the promising photo artist. Since the seventies, Mann has mastered various genres, studied new methods of capturing life, and improved in the profession. Sally began to combine still life and portrait in her works. However, the real discovery was the second publication, a photo collection-study of the way of thinking of girls. The 1988 book At Twelve: Portraits of Young Women turned out to be a girl's breakthrough.
From 1984 to 1994, Mann worked for the Close Family series. The whole cycle is based on portraits of the master's children, Jesse and Virginia. They were not even ten years old. The ordinary moments of life were presented to the audience: food, play, sleep. At the same time, each photograph raised larger-scale issues. Sally's husband became the subject of the 2009 collection Proud Flesh. The publication is compiled from six pictures taken with Larry.
The images turned out to be sincere and frank. The photographs have turned the accepted concept of the role of sexes. The man was captured in moments of personal vulnerability. The landscape series "Homeland" and "Far in the South" are also considered controversial works. The 2003 selection "What Will Remain" analyzes the photographer's observations on mortality. The collection is composed of five parts. It is not uncommon for Mann to experiment with color photography. However, Mann's favorite technique is black and white photography using old equipment.
To new heights
Sally has mastered the old methods of printing, bromo and platinum. By the mid-nineties, the photographer was using the colloid method, printing transformed photographs, endowing them with the features of sculpture and painting. By 2001, Mann won three awards from the National Endowment for the Arts. She was constantly in the spotlight of the Guggenheim Foundation and was named the best photographer in America by Time.
Two documentaries were filmed about Mann and her work in 1994 and 2007, "Blood Ties" and "What Remains." Both have won prestigious film awards. What Remains was nominated for an Emmy for Best Documentary in 2008. Sally's new work is No Movement: A Memoir in Photographs in 2015. The critic greeted the work with approval. The collection was included in the bestseller list.
It is generally accepted that the creativity of the best masters is not limited to any specific works or collections. It is embodied in constant improvement, dynamics, a path that cannot be traversed to the end. But in the work of Sally, one can single out the iconic monographic collection "Close Relatives". This collection is discussed to this day. The heroes of the series are close relatives of the photographer. Children are captured in ordinary poses, in routine situations. The outgoing images are fixed in the pictures forever. You can watch how one of the kids demonstrates a mosquito bite, dozing after lunch.
It is noticeable how every kid strives to overcome the border between growing up and childhood. The pictures also represent the fears of adults associated with raising children, the immense tenderness and desire to protect the offspring that are common to all parents. All the pictures, androgynous among the leafy courtyard, and pale flexible children's figures against the background of heavy adults, seem to remind of the familiar past that has become infinitely distant.
Personal life and work
You cannot appreciate Mann's work without knowing her personality. In the life of a master, household chores and children are not at all given the first place. Sally is busy creating art. Only after that does she realize that she is an ordinary woman. In his youth, Mann and her husband were hippies. Since that time, both have kept the habit of growing almost everything for food with their own hands, not attaching much importance to money.
Until the eighties, the family barely made ends meet. After going through all the difficulties, Sally and Larry became inseparable. The woman dedicated iconic collections to her husband. While the wife worked with enthusiasm, the husband was engaged in blacksmithing.
Shortly before the appearance of the most famous monograph of the photographer, Larry received his law degree. He works near their home. Mann never stops improving. However, the woman prefers to take her pictures in the summer, leaving the rest of the time for their printing.
The master explains this limitation by the fact that she can take pictures of the kids at any time, but she is not interested in perpetuating the routine activities of the kids all the time. Sally continues to work in her hometown.
Her amazing photographs have become an invaluable source of inspiration for all people in the creative profession.
