Philosopher's portraits in New Philosopher magazine

Steve's 'Philosophers' series has been featured in New Philosopher magazine which can be found online, or alternatively a PDF of the feature is available by clicking the image below...

'Philosophers' time lapse installation at PhotoNOLA

Here is a time-lapse video showing the installation of Steve's 'Philosophers' for PhotoNOLA 2012.

The series is being exhibited at NOCCA in New Orleans up to the 14th December at the address below. For more details head here.

Steve Pyke: The Philosophers

November 8 – December 14, 2012
Opening: Thursday, November 8, 2012, 6-8 pm
Steve Pyke Lecture: Friday, Nov 9, 7pm at NOPA Gallery

NOCCA
2800 Chartres St.
New Orleans, LA 70117
504-940-2787
Hours: Mon – Fri 9am-1pm; Sat 12-4pm

The  'Philosophers' book is available in the UK from Amazon here And in the US from Amazon here.

Philosophers book reviewed in Philosophy Now

Hi Friends!

My second volume of Philosophers has just been reviewed in Philosophy Now, i'm including a link below. Hope you're all well.

Very best,

Steve


The review was written by Constantine Sandis of 'Philosophy Now' and can be seen in full here with a select few quotes below;


Jason Stanley

"Pyke’s collection proves just how wrong Nozick was to suppose that a picture of a person in a moment of time could not reveal a lifetime’s worth of traits, beliefs, emotions and aspirations."

Referring to text contributed by philosophers;

"It is revealing to compare the content of these with those in the 1993 book, as they collectively reveal a small yet steady change in the philosophical climate. "

"Philosophers could not have hoped for a better portrait artist than Steve Pyke. "

Steve's 'Philosophers' book reviewed this week in the NY Times Literary supplement

Steve's latest book 'Philosophers' published by Oxford University Press and available to buy here direct or here via Amazon was reviewed this week in the NY Times Literary supplement by Constantine Sandis.

If you have not seen the review, you can read it by clicking on the image below:

What Does a Philosopher Look Like?

A J Ayer, London, 5 October 1988 © Steve Pyke

From issue 55 of The Philosopher’s Magazine, Cynthia Freeland wrote an essay on Steve's Philosophers series. The essay can be seen on the Talking Philosophy blog and raises interesting questions of the portraits Steve has been making since the late 80's.

Noam Chomsky, Boston, 29 May 1990 © Steve Pyke

Head over to the blog post itself to read all the comments from contributors and add your own opinions.

Rebecca Kukla commented:

"Perhaps it’s because I’ve spent my whole life among philosophers but I find these shots deeply ‘appetizing’ for the most part. These are character-filled, thoughtful, real faces, and most of the pictures make me want to talk to that person"

Sean O'Hagan reviews 'Philosophers' on guardian Art blog

Sean O'Hagan wrote a review for Steve's 'Philosophers' series, currently on show at Flowers Gallery, London.

The full article can be read by clicking on the image below.




"The Philosophers series, like all portraits, tells us something about mortality – theirs and ours. "As time passes by and you look at portraits," Cartier-Bresson once said, "the people come back to you like a silent echo. A photograph is a vestige of a face, a face in transit. Photography has something to do with death. It's a trace." One senses that AJ Ayer utterly understood that when he submitted his elderly, vulnerable self to Steve Pyke's scrutiny, setting this epic project in motion. In Pyke's portrait, Ayer's face is fixed forever in its calm inscrutability, defying us – and Pyke – to read it, sending the curious viewer elsewhere in search of meaning: towards his work, towards his words."

Steve Pyke, An interview with Scope magazine

Steve was interviewed recently for the Summer edition of Scope magazine. The full interview which looks at Steve's career in full can be found by clicking the image below or by subscribing to Scope online.

Philosophers - The London Show from 7th Sep - 1st Oct

I'm having a London showing of my new Philosophers series which will co-incide with the UK book release of Philosophers, a second volume published by Oxford University Press.

It's at Flowers Central from September the 7th to October the 1st, the invite is attached along with the press release below.

Hope to see you there!



PRESS RELEASE

MAP

FLOWERS GALLERY

Steve Pyke - Poguetry, The Lyrics of Shane MacGowan

The following video is a visual tour of Poguetry, a rare book originally published in 1988 that combines the lyrics of Shane MacGowan, illustrations by John Hewitt and photographs by Steve Pyke. Foreward read by Steve Pyke.

Thanks to Lauren DeBell for producing this video.

Steve talking on WFMU radio

Just a few days ago Steve spoke on WFMU radio about his life's work, and in particular his passion for photographing Philosophers, culminating in two books being published featuring these portraits.

The show has been archived and is available to listen to below.



June 27, 2011: Photo Op
This week photographer Steve Pyke tells us about his Philosopher portrait series and your host goes to France in search of photo books. Plus a remix of the three photographers we featured last year in the "Beyond the Fruited Plain" series: Richard Misrach, Alec Soth, and Naomi Harris.

Steve Pyke, Philosopers - An In Depth Video

An in-depth look at Steve's most recent gallery show in New York City. The show of philosophers he has photographed since 1993 includes individual prints and a large collage of contact sheets from each shoot. This piece shows a unique side of Steve's workflow as he discusses how photographing philosophers became a life-long project.

Video produced by Lauren DeBell

Steve Pyke - Philosophers from Lauren DeBell on Vimeo.

Philosophers book Pre-Order

UPDATE:

The new 'Philosophers' books is available to pre-order in the UK from Amazon here
And in the US from Amazon here

Alternatively you can go direct to the publisher: Oxford University Press, and pre-order from there

The Bridge Sessions with Steve Pyke

Below are two great little videos with Steve talking to photographer Zack Smith. in the first video Steve talks about his passion for music and how it has informed and influenced his photography.

In the second video Zack talks to Steve about his image making process and the 'Philosophers' series. Enjoy!

Installation images from 'Philosophers' show at Flowers Gallery New York

Here are a few images from the installation of work and a contact sheet mural for the 'Philosophers' show at Flowers Gallery New York. The opening night is this Thursday 19th, and will be open until the 18th June. For more information on the exhibition and new Philosophers book, as well as an invite, head here.

Philosophers show - May 20- June 18, Flowers Gallery, New York

Hi there, I hope some of you can make it to the opening reception for the Philosophers show next week in New York. The show will be on display at Flowers Gallery from May 20th - June 18th.

The newly published Philosophers book will be available as well as a signed limited edition of both the 1993 book along with the new one!

best to you

Steve

There is more information on the image below!

Steve Pyke at Slideluck Potshow XVI New York

Steve will be among a host of other photographers whose work will be shown at Slideluck Potshow XVI at the legendary St. Ann's Warehouse this Saturday, May 14th in Dumbo, Brooklyn! Tickets are limited and can be purchased here.

Steve will be showing images from the Philosophers series of which there is a new book out later this month. A limited signed edition will be available of both the first volume and the new volume, if you are interested in this limited edition set, please email.


Anthony Appiah
New York City
20 March 2003

The slideshow was curated by Whitney Johnson, Director of Photography for The New Yorker, and the theme is UPHEAVAL.
More details can be found here

Why i have been photographing philosophers for the past 25 years

The New York Times have today published an article and slide show I wrote for The Stone, their philosophy blog that goes some way to explaining how i have been photographing philosophers for nearly 25 yrs now. - LINK HERE

And here is a link to my website which for the first time has all the photographs and statements from the first volume published in 1992. The second volume of Philosophers will be published in May by Oxford University Press. - LINK HERE

Professor David Wiggins, London, 4 September 1990 ©STEVE PYKE

Steve Pyke Philosophers book coming out on Oxford University Press late this year (2010)

Philosophers 1989-1996 © Steve Pyke

Here is a little background information on the series from Steve,

(Philosophers can be viewed online here )

The History: I was commissioned to photograph a portrait of Sir A.J.Ayer in London October 1988. He was very poorly but the ten minutes I was promised stretched to three hours, we got talking and by the end of our conversation he suggested I should make studies of other philosophers. From this sprung a series of 100 of the western worlds leading philosophers, including Noam Chomsky, Iris Murdoch and Jurgen Habermas.

A J Ayer, London, 5 October 1988 © Steve Pyke

Iris Murdoch, Oxford, 13 November 1990 © Steve Pyke

Jurgen Habermas, Frankfurt, 6 November 1991 © Steve Pyke

As I photographed each philosopher I would ask them who they felt was central or had influence on their own work. As the list grew, whenever the names cross-referenced I would write to them and try to arrange a sitting.

I prefer to photograph sitters at home, I don’t often however work with props or even show location, they seem sometimes to be a distraction in the portrait. Whilst with them I also asked if they could give me some idea in a few sentences what philosophy meant to them. I always use my old twin lens Rolleiflex, a camera I began my photographic work with thirty years ago.

It took nearly three years to photograph this generation of philosophers and culminated in a number of exhibitions. Many of the portraits are now in both private and public collections, such as the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Noam Chomsky, Boston, 29 May 1990 © Steve Pyke

This work was funded on my own faith, the sale of my apartment and a strong commitment from my gallery. It was originally published by Cornerhouse Publications (ISBN 0-948797-76-2) this edition quickly sold out and was republished by my gallery Zelda Cheatle Press. The resulting book Philosophers (ISBN 0 951837 18 4) is now very much sought after and is similarly in collections and universities worldwide.

Inevitably with a project of this scale there were philosophers that I wanted to include but was not able to at the time. Now 20 years on I have completed a second stage of this odyssey photographing the contemporary generation of thinkers. This amounts so far to another hundred portraits

One of the wonderful aspects of my journey through the faces of philosophy has been the correspondence, the erudite hand written letter and now the e-mails defining philosophy.

SP NYC March 2010

PHILOSOPHERS WILL BE PUBLISHED BY OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS LATE 2010 MORE INFORMATION WILL BE POSTED WHEN IT IS AVAILABLE OR TO EXPRESS YOUR INTEREST IN UPDATES FOR THIS BOOK PLEASE EMAIL stevepykestudios@gmail.com