Grayscale

By Suzanne Révy

Most photographers of a certain age began their journey with black and white film. We learned the basics of exposure and development and then marveled to see the tones emerge as we rocked a tray of chemistry with our first print. For some, this magic never abated, and they continued to hone their photographic skill in shades of gray. Two recently published books revel in subtle monochrome tonality: Agnieszka Sosnowska’s För and Regina DeLuise’s The Hands of My Friends. Their pensive and reverent explorations inspire renewed gratitude for photography’s enduring spectrum of grayscale.

From the book För by Agnieszka Sosnowska, published by Trespasser, 2024 (Photographed by Suzanne Révy)

From the book För by Agnieszka Sosnowska, published by Trespasser, 2024 (Photographed by Suzanne Révy)

För is like listening to a deep, sonorous symphony. It is filled with melancholy and a kind of gentle rhythm. Sosnowska’s pictures were made in her adopted home of eastern Iceland between 2001 and 2021. They depict a life close to nature, but not an idyllic Eden. It is a spare and somewhat inhospitable place, though its beauty is sublime. Sosnowska renders it in transcendent pictures that beckon readers to witness a place of remarkable singularity. 

From the book För by Agnieszka Sosnowska, published by Trespasser, 2024 (Photographed by Suzanne Révy)

From the book För by Agnieszka Sosnowska, published by Trespasser, 2024 (Photographed by Suzanne Révy)

The sequence moves between portraits and landscapes alongside images of human interaction with nature and animals. In one particularly striking picture, a young girl balances on the back of a small horse— a kind of dream without being pictorial. Her technique is straightforward, and in fact, a few pictures indicate the challenges of life in a remote and sparsely populated place. Where, for example, to dispose of used car tires?  Or how to repair and maintain decaying structures or rusty vehicles? The decomposing body of a large elk with bleached antlers and pictures of stormy skies emphasize the blustery environment. However, in her graceful waterways or birds soaring in soft northern light, Sosnowska’s long mid-tonal range conveys harmonies found between the violence of natural events. 

From the book För by Agnieszka Sosnowska, published by Trespasser, 2024 (Photographed by Suzanne Révy)

From the book För by Agnieszka Sosnowska, published by Trespasser, 2024 (Photographed by Suzanne Révy)

My only frustration with the book is the occasional inelegant placement of photographs across the gutter. But it is refreshing to see pictures from Iceland that offer a sense of how folks live there instead of the typical postcard views of cliffs and waterfalls. The authenticity in this work is, I suspect, the result of Sosnowska’s own sense of comfort among an intimate community. And the pacing mirrors the slower gait of life on a remote island. För resonates with lyricism and a reverential sense of solitude. If you listen to the second movement of Brahms’s Fourth Symphony while perusing this book, you may agree that the reverberating tonalities of quiet contentment, grit and deep sorrow are aptly reflected through Sosnowska’s viewfinder.

Title page from The Hands of My Friends by Regina DeLuise, published by Saint Lucy Books, 2024 (Photograph by Suzanne Révy)

From the book The Hands of My Friends by Regina DeLuise published by Saint Lucy Books, 2024

Like Sosnowska, Regina DeLuise employs a long mid-tonal range in pictures that explore classical compositions through still-life, landscape and portraiture. The Hands of My Friends is a retrospective book that covers work made over forty years. She describes feeling most productive when she travels to places that are unfamiliar to “keep something of an unsteady ground underfoot.” As a graduate student in Italy in the early 80’s, DeLuise was influenced by the suggestive contours in Egon Schiele’s drawings and the architectural details of Giotto’s frescoes, and has nurtured her inspirations by returning there regularly in the decades that followed.

From the book The Hands of My Friends by Regina DeLuise published by Saint Lucy Books, 2024

From the book The Hands of My Friends by Regina DeLuise published by Saint Lucy Books, 2024

About halfway through the book there is a photograph of a “horse” bench used in drawing studios, below a white cloth draped on a chalkboard. It brought back the nervous memories of my own foundation year in art school, particularly to the first day I encountered these benches. Taking my cue from classmates, I sat astride, placed the masonite board and paper against the backing, and feigned sophistication as my first figure model disrobed. Foundation drawing classes teach line, shading and gesture, so it is fitting that this book opens and closes with sketches of human figures. DeLuise’s hand is present in these drawings and just as physically apparent in her photographs. 

From the book The Hands of My Friends by Regina DeLuise published by Saint Lucy Books, 2024

DeLuise’s sensibility for chiaroscuro may well have been formed by observational drawing. She possesses an exquisite sense of light and shadow and uses it consistently across a spectrum of subject matter. Illuminating the shape, form and planes of their faces, she appears to invite a sense of ease among her sitters. Her loving photographs of arms and feet extend her exploration to every physical aspect of another person’s being. DeLuise’s still-life compositions are a blend of gossamer texture in, for example, the reflections from a mirror or the pleats and folds of fabric. In one handsome picture, she introduces tension through an onion precariously perched at the edge of a table, emphasizing a delicate balance. Trees dancing under the hazy Italian sun, three-dimensional architectural elements inviting our eyes to wander through illuminated interiors, and empty chairs, fill this book with mortal hints of transience. Despite their differences in subject matter or approach and their kinship in greyscale expression, both Sosnowska and DeLuise create a reassuring mood through a quiet sense of consolation.

From the book The Hands of My Friends by Regina DeLuise published by Saint Lucy Books, 2024

För by Agnieszka Sonsnowska
Edited by Bryan Schutmaat, Matthew Genitempo, Agnieszka Sosnowska
Published by Trespasser, Austin, TX 2024
https://trespasser.co/shop/for

The Hands of My Friends by Regina DeLuise
Essays by Regina DeLuise and Felicia McCarren
Published by Saint Lucy Books, Baltimore, MD 2024
https://www.saintlucybooks.com/shop/p/regina-deluise-the-hands-of-my-friends

From the book För by Agnieszka Sosnowska, published Trespasser, 2024 (Photographed by Suzanne Révy)

From the book The Hands of My Friends by Regina DeLuise published by Saint Lucy Books, 2024