Duncan Forbes: An Interview with Lewis Baltz

“The tension implicit in any photograph is the tension between an inert, black-and-white, two-dimensional object, and an event that actually exists in the phenomenal world. A photograph successful mediates, though never completely resolves that tension.”

In 1972, as his career was beginning to take off, Lewis Baltz conducted a revealing interview, his first considered statement about photography. Never published, the interview has recently resurfaced, and has been printed here for the first time. In an increasingly sardonic exchange Baltz describes the character of his practice, articulates his position within and against the world of photography, and comments on his intellectual heritage and professional ambition. A penetrating exploration of the character of his medium, Baltz’s artistry and mercurial presence are strikingly laid bare.

Baltz’s interview is fully annotated with an introductory essay by Duncan Forbes.

DISCOURSE is a series of small books in which a cultural theorist, curator or artist explores a theme, an artwork or an idea in an extended illustrated text.