Affinities Of Form

This is both a study of the art of collecting and a look at the objects in the Wielgus collection of arts from Africa, Oceania and the Americas. The book examines the motives that led Raymond Wielgus to become a collector, and puts the Wielgus collection i

"Some photographers take their pictures; others make them. Neither notion seems right in describing Stanford Lipsey's work, however, for the spirit behind these pictures is one of natural discovery, something that comes before process." -Anthony Bannon, Director of Eastman House Stanford Lipsey's passion for fine art photography began in Aspen, Colorado 30 years ago with the sight of a simple pine cone seen through a macro lens. Ever since this revelatory moment, Lipsey has dedicated himself to revealing simple truths and a visual language of the natural world hidden around us. Whether it be cloud formations in an azure sky, light ripples in shimmering water, a dense pine forest, gentle ice crystals, or austere glass architecture, Lipsey's photographs suggest a sense of the inexplicable universal links that bond the elements and matter. Affinity of Form, Lipsey's first monograph, brings that vision to bear on a wide array of commonplace subjects from our everyday world. In the vein of Aaron Siskind, Lipsey's camera fixes frequently on surfaces, abstracting them in such a way that they become visual objects unto themselves, independent of their sources and newly compelling. Other images take a longer view, allowing monumental structures, both natural and man-made, to revert to basic shapes. A newspaperman by profession, Lipsey draws on a long-honed ability to capture events at precisely the right moment-in this case, the moment when mundane objects cease to be themselves, transforming within the frame into something far more artful and mysterious. "I'm rather eclectic in what I shoot," he says, "but all forms of nature, abstracts, and architecture inspire me to create imagery that escapes the naked eye."

Affinities—that nagging sense of familiarity which we get at particular moments in works of art—offer a key to the ways in which poets and artists work. In nine chapters, this book approaches important aspects of the topic and shows how affinity, intentional or otherwise, can be a signpost to an influence the artist wishes to hide, a route into creativity, a shared feature of a genre at a particular stage of development, or a joyful sharing of a common heritage. It can also be the first step in a lawsuit, when it is confused with plagiarism. The chapters range in topic from Wagner and Meyerbeer, Tchaikovsky to the Hymnal, Thomas Mann and Colm Tóibín, and Agatha Christie and George Eliot to American Naïve Painting.