All-American XII: Volume XII

It’s a cool big book to look at and read a little. I got it super cheap so im pretty happy

I remember the first time I ever saw a Bruce Weber photograph. It was in the early 1980's. Andy Warhol's "Interview" magazine devoted an entire edition to Mr. Weber's art. As I recall, the shots were of Olympic athletes and they blew me away. Shortly thereafter I purchased Mr. Weber's first volume of photographs, called simply BRUCE WEBER, now a collector's item and worth big bucks-- not that I would ever part with it. Mr. Weber signed it for me at an exhibit of his photographs at Fay Gold Gallery in Atlanta. I own most of his beautiful books published since then. His latest , ALL-AMERICAN VOLUME TWELVE-A BOOK OF LESSONS is quintessential Weber. He includes his own photographs-- some of which would qualify as candids-- in both color and black and white, along with those of other photographers, and writes some of the accompanying articles as well.There is much to like about this book, from the glorious photographs but, more importantly, the people and places Mr. Weber has selected to include in his book. My four favorites are Danny Trejo, Kaffe Fassett, Studs Terkel and Barney Rosset, all so different but each man in his own way the epitome of what it means to be an All-American. Mr. Trejo spent many years in prison, was released when he was 38 years old, straightened his life out, made movies playing the bad guy but lectures to "kids in danger." As he says so eloquently: "The greatest gift I've gotten from being in movies is that when I meet kids in danger, they listen to me." (I particularly like-- among many-- the street scene in color with Mr. Trejo's photo on a billboard and Frieda Kahlo's portrait on the opposite side of the street as well as the two color portraits of him that are on the pages just before the street scene.) Studs Terkel's comments from HOPE DIES LAST are all about his leanings to the left and Mahalia Jackson, of all people, coming to his rescue. That article is not to be missed. I'm a big fan of Kaffe Fassett and was delighted to see him included here. The consummate fabric/textile artist, he has just published his memoirs.Then there is Barney Rosset. Surely no one has done more for freedom of the press in the United States and the right to publish great literature, no matter how controversial, than he as the publisher of Grove Press and "Evergreen Review." His mission was "to support the literary experimentation of cutting-edge writers while fighting censorship of any kind." The list of the books Rosset published, the covers of some of which are shown in color, is staggering: And what a group of writers he sponsored: Bertolt Brecht, Pablo Neruda, Jean Genet, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Yukio Mishima, Harold Pinter, Henry Miller, William Burroughs, D. H. Lawrence, Allen Ginsberg, Samuel Beckett, Kenzaburo Oe, Octavio Paz, LeRoi Jones-- the list is astounding. Every writer in America owes him a debt of gratitude, and Mr. Weber is to be so commended for including him in his book of All-Americans.There is so much more: the poem by Frank O'Hara, "A True Account of Talking to the Sun at Fire Island" and the words to the song by Joni James, "I May Never Pass This Way Again," those gorgeous paintings by Hughie Lee-Smith as well as Weber photographs everywhere.Finally, I was much moved by Mr. Weber's dedications in memory of Anna Piaggi and Dash Snow. Like his other books, this one surely is destined to become a classic.

frankly, 'm a HUGE FAN of mr weber's work since me mates commissioned portraits from his chelsea art crowd day and bought all his books since, even those really hard to get ones from little bear press. and mr weber was never known to be very HONEST with his coffee table book contents anyway, except for the now classics bear pond and chop suey club,but to me this book is just PURE UTTER DISAPPOINTMENT!A/. SHOOT-wise, gone was the now famous vogue homme international 'postboard' art work instead all we got was large, boring, poorly done snaps. the 've been seen one too many bo derek on horse nudes were may be titilating to some, the soft focus david hamilton style really DATED the tone of the book. plus what's Richard Avedon's shoots suppose to do in a bruce weber coffee table photo book anyway?!B/.and if there's an arguement the weber team is trying to do an interview collection then it's a FAILURE, too.for the literature side, writings are only up to the superficial Warhol instant noodle pop mags 'interview' standard, SADLY.again, UTTER DISAPPOINTMENT!!! only stock this if u're a public library curator looking for names to fluff up your shelves.......tears

I like Bruce Weber's photographs and find his collections - like this book - to be carefully curated and well worth the time and money. This was at a great price - and I bought along with two other volumes - for about $18 each - best money I spent all year.