In Plane View: Abstractions of Flight Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a book of beauty. It's not a catalogue of airplanes -- there are plenty other books like that -- this is a collection of pieces of photographic art. There are quotes and some intelligent interesting background information on each plane or spacecraft; but the stars are the almost abstract stunning photographs. The jet intake of a MiG-21F, a peeling paint close-up of Gemini IV, the lines of a Grob 103, the exhaust nozzle of an F-104A Starfighter. It's a Technicolor high-def love affair with mechanical bits of aviation history. Worth getting a coffee table for . . .

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In Plane View: Abstractions of Flight, by the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum photographer Carolyn Russo, redirects our attention to the often-overlooked simple beauty of aircraft design. With precedents in the work of Robert Delaunay, Charles Sheeler, and Arshile Gorky, among others, Russo uses fine art photography to bring out new visual dimensions of these powerful symbols of the 20th century, transforming them into works of art. Russo's striking color photographs distill the complexity of civil and military airplanes and spaceships into bold combinations of line, shape, light, and color. Beautiful in themselves, the bold colors, textures, shapes, and patterns of Carolyn Russo's photographs become even more intriguing when we learn their source: the iconic air and space craft of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. Through her unconventional approach, the NASM photographer reveals new layers of meaning, from the whimsical to the profound, in the appearance of some of history's most revered flying machines. Juxtaposing Russo's playful and discerning eye, scholarly text from NASM and the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery provides fresh perspectives on flight and photography that will leave audiences looking at the world with new eyes. The book features 90 color photographs, quotes by aviators, artists, and poets, historical captions on each aircraft, and interpretive essays by Anne Collins Goodyear, assistant curator of prints and drawing from the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery and a specialist in the relationship of art, science, and technology. A companion exhibition will take place at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

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