Wisdom Cries Out in the Street: Wisdom Cries Out in the Streets - Hardcover

My way of life, my very being is based on images capable of engraving themselves indelibly in our inner soul's eye.

The photographs and visual documentaries of Louis Stettner have always attracted critical attention. Pupil and lifelong friend of Brassaï, Stettner has always sought to capture in his glimpses of daily life a profound connection to reality while casting light on human expression in all its facets.

Bringing together for the first time the full scope of his vision, a rich retrospective of his photographs taken from the late 1940s to the present, this magnificent book is both a catalogue of his work and a monument to his art. Punctuated by essays penned by the photographer himself, Wisdom Cries Out in the Streets traces the many phases of Stettner's career in frank and lively prose. Beautifully reproduced photographs reveal images worthy of close imagination; for it is also in the details of his work that he is so highly regarded. A master at framing his subjects, Stettner captures the essence of form in seemingly simple still-lifes.

Destined to become a standard reference for Louis Stettner's photographs, this book celebrates the art of one of America's great photographers.

"A sunny spring day after school, I was on the beach at Coney Island, looking up at the sky while walking. Somehow the ocean, the white sand (it was truly clean and sparkling white in those days) and the fleecy clouds began whirling together, mingling with the intoxicating, gusty aroma of sea spray and the plaintive shrieks of seagulls. I found myself actually moving in space in complete harmony with the movement of the world. I felt a wonderful giddiness. For the first time in my life I was touching eternity, was pulsing along with the universe. I was not just admiring nature, I had become part of it. This was the sharp contrast to the rest of my boyhood in Brooklyn, a long series of suburban houses, telephone poles, empty lots, and floating matchbox boats down the water gutters of the streets."