Riding 1st Class on the Titanic: Photographs by Nathan Lyons

foreword by Adam Weinberg
essay by Leroy Searle


Taking up where Notations in Passing left off, Riding 1st Class on the Titanic encompasses Nathan Lyons's work from 1974 to the present. Like the earlier book, this one consists primarily of a series of paired images, beautifully sequenced by the photographer, with very little text. Found language, such as that on building facades and signs, plays a prominent role in many of the sequences.

The book, which accompanies a traveling exhibition organized by the Addison Gallery of American Art, contains a foreword by Adam Weinberg, Director of the Addison Gallery, and an essay by Leroy Searle.

The title refers to the paradox of the Titanic, a symbol of invulnerability that became the carrier of our ultimate vulnerability. Lyons's work investigates the value systems that we have embraced, only to discover that their elusive meanings do more to challenge our belief systems than to reinforce them.

Copublished with The Addison Gallery of American Art.

EXHIBITION SCHEDULE:

Addison Gallery of American Art
Phillips Academy
Andover, Massachusetts
January 15-March 19, 2000

International Center of Photography
New York, New York
April-June 2000

International Museum of Photography and Film
George Eastman House
Rochester, New York
July-October 2000

Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery
University of Maryland
Baltimore, Maryland
Fall 2000

Venue for winter 2001 to be announced

California Museum of Photography
University of California, Riverside
Spring 2001