Model American-Katy Grannan

HB,112 pages, 70 pictures.

Katy Grannan’s striking portraits capture the desire of her subjects to offer themselves up to the camera lens. Each of her well-known series—“Poughkeepsie Journal,” “Dream America,” and “Morning Call”—began with a simple ad placed by Grannan in local newspapers: “Art Models. Artist/Photographer (female) seeks people for portraits. No experience necessary. Leave msg.” After an initial telephone conversation, Grannan travels to the caller’s home. Photographing her models in their own surroundings, she pays meticulous attention to the elements of their domestic settings: wood paneling, patterned wallpaper, and other mundane but often telling details. The subjects choose to remain clothed, to model nude, or to pause somewhere in between, working with Grannan to arrive at the pose.

The resulting images reflect the intensity of the relationship between artist and model. With subjects centrally framed and directly facing the camera, each image resonates with the tension of a first encounter. In Grannan’s series “Sugar Camp Road” and her most recent work, she moves the exercise outdoors, using a municipal park as the backdrop. Even though the parklands that serve as her set bring the private encounters of her earlier series into the public landscape, she maintains a delicate—yet charged—sense of intimacy.

“Katy Grannan is one of the most original and compelling portraitists working today....The last time I was this uncomfortable and thrilled by a book of portraits was when I first opened Diane Arbus’s monograph thirty years ago.” —RICHARD MISRACH