Publisher's Synopsis
Photographic survey of the architecture, decoration, and setting of all 50 US state capitol buildings with descriptive text.
Master
photographers
Robert Lisak and David Ottenstein have created an unprecedented
photographic portrait of all 50 US state capitol buildings, exploring
architecture, interior spaces, furnishings, landscape settings, and
urban locations.
These portraits of America's state capitol
buildings present shining examples of
various architectural styles, including:
Neoclassical
Renaissance
Art deco
Bauhaus
Gothic
Modernist
Their intention is not merely to record the
look of these secular civic temples, but to evoke their meaning and
spirit through the rich visual language of photography. Paintings and sculpture, wood and stone, landscaping: these all
contribute to the multilayered story of how we, as a people, value the
civic structures we erect.
The book further pays homage to these capitols with the following features:
Foreword by George Miles, curator of the Yale Collection
of Western Americana, that elaborates on the themes and ideas subtly revealed by the precise and thoughtful photographs.
The 50 state capitol buildings are presented in
order of their admission to the Union, to provide a historical flow.
Each building has a written introduction by Robert Morton, a premier editor of photography books and works on the history or art and architecture, that provides a rich context for the images.
Captions accompany four to
six images of each structure.
The rich
photographs in this book bring the viewer into a shared contemplation of
the meaning and significance of these proud buildings.
