Zumthor Book of the Moment

Looking for a good investment these days? Something that might increase in value from, say, $75.00 to $836.00 in less than ten years? Well be sure to pick up a copy of Seeing Zumthor--Images by Hans Danuser: Reflections on Architecture and Photography by Hans Danuser and published by Scheidegger & Spiess. It will be released on July 15.


[image description | image source]

At only 88 pages and just under 50 bucks retail it's not exactly cheap, but it is Zumthor, and in the world of architecture books he's the man. If the photos by Danuser below are any indication the imagery is dramatic and drenched in moodiness, just amazing to look at. They are clearly "photographs that comment equally on the art of photography and the art of architecture."


[Saint Benedict Chapel in Sumvitg, Graubünden, Switzerland photographed by Hans Danuser | image source]


[Saint Benedict Chapel in Sumvitg, Graubünden, Switzerland photographed by Hans Danuser | image source]

From the book's description:

"More than twenty years ago, in a milestone event of twentieth-century architectural photography, Danuser photographed, at Zumthor’s invitation, two buildings: the protective structure built for archaeological excavations in Chur and St. Benedict’s Chapel in Sumvitg. When first shown in exhibition, those photos ignited a lively debate that has been revived with a recent exhibition of Danuser’s photographs of Zumthor’s most famous work, the spa at Therme Vals. Seeing Zumthor collects these three important series of Danuser’s pictures and includes essays by leading art historians [a discussion between Köbi Gantenbein and Hans Danuser and an essay by Philip Ursprung] exploring the relationship between the two seemingly different disciplines or architecture and photography."