Repetition is a high-risk art. By tackling it, David Hurn won his bet: his book dedicated to reading is very successful. However, he borrows the theme already explored half a century ago by one of his former mentors, the American-Hungarian André Kertész (1894-1985). The two works have the same size, the same quality of paper, the same flow, with no real beginning or end.
The two men met in London in the 1980s, during a twenty-four-hour performance open to around a hundred photographers from around the world. The aim was to capture a day in the life of London. Hurn, who was then approaching fifty, offered to accompany Kertész, who was 89 years old, in this exercise.
“At a preparatory breakfast in a hotel in South Kensington, I told him that his book entitled On Reading [« sur la lecture »], first published in 1971, was one of my favorite books, says the Welsh photographer. After much discussion and laughter, I suggested that, if he gave me permission, I would rewrite the book when I was 89 years old. He agreed. It started as a joke and this is the result. »
Six decades of collecting
L’On Reading by David Hurn, published by RRB Photobooks, compiles photos taken since the late 1950s of people reading, in Wales but also across much of Europe, Qatar, the United States and New Zealand. Moments of rest and introspection in cafes, train stations, strip clubs, museums, by the sea, on film sets, in parks, streets… “With hindsight, we see in these images the continual presence of books and newspapers, while fashions of clothing and haircuts evolve,” he observes with relish. Six decades of collecting which bear witness to the timeless pleasure of reading, the author’s passion which constitutes the common thread of this long and captivating journey.
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