Book Description
Evolving from a series of road trips along the Mississippi River, Alec Soth's Sleeping by the Mississippi captures America's iconic yet oft-neglected "third coast." Soth's richly descriptive, large-format color photographs present an eclectic mix of individuals, landscapes, and interiors. Sensuous in detail and raw in subject, Sleeping by the Mississippi elicits a consistent mood of loneliness, longing, and reverie. "In the book's 46 ruthlessly edited pictures," writes Anne Wilkes Tucker, "Soth alludes to illness, procreation, race, crime, learning, art, music, death, religion, redemption, politics, and cheap sex." Like Robert Frank's classic The Americans, Sleeping by the Mississippi merges a documentary style with a poetic sensibility. The Mississippi is less the subject of the book than its organizing structure. Not bound by a rigid concept or ideology, the series is created out of a quintessentially American spirit of wanderlust. The coherence of the project places Soth's book exactly within the tradition of Walker Evans' American Photographs and Robert Frank's The Americans. --Anne Wilkes Tucker Essays by Anne Wilkes Tucker and Patricia Hampl. Clothbound, 11.25 x 10.75 in. / 120 pgs / 46 color.

• Hardcover: 120 pages
• Publisher: Steidl Publishing; edition (Aug 15, 2023)
• ISBN: 3865210074
• Average Customer Review: Based on 2 reviews.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: 19210

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

Spectacular!!!!, Sep 12, 2023
Alec Soth builds on the tradition established by William Eggleston, Stephen Shore and Joel Sternfeld. But Soth dramatically moves beyond these masters by presenting a more eccentric cast of characters, a stronger thematic melody and a more personal insight.

Soth's photographic journey down the Mississippi evokes a boyish sense of adventure. Dreams, flight, religion, race, sex and unusual personalities appear repeatedly in the work, often in subtle allusion. The young photographer captures a rainbow of quirky characters defining a life filled with rich personal meaning outside the mainstream of cultural or artistic norms, locations, institutions and without significant financial expense.

The book's forty-six pictures reflect a richness of detail possible with Soth's 8 x 10 inch camera. Each page offers a title on the left and the work on the right. Photographers Notes at the end of the book hint at the depth within Soth's work. Essays by Patricia Hampl and Anne Wilkes Tucker complete this wonderful Steidl publication.

The Whitney Bienniel 2004 prominently featured Soth's work, which has been acclaimed by the critics and will be embraced by the broader public as this young photographer becomes better known. A spectacular body of work, Sleeping by the Mississippi places Soth squarely at the front of young American photographers continuing to move art forward.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

Watch this star rise!, Aug 21, 2023
Alec Soth captures the world in a way every bit as solid and exciting as Walker Evans and Diane Arbus. The book is solid in content and publishing quality and would fit comfortably in almost anyone's library. This young photographer is going places. Watch his star rise over the next few years!

• > Subjects > Arts & Photography > Photography > Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions
• > Subjects > Arts & Photography > Photography > Color
• > Subjects > Arts & Photography > Photography > Photographers, A-Z > General