Above:
Indian Peafowl—Pavo cristatus.
Right:
African Grey Parrot–Psittacua erithacus.
Henry Horenstein;
Courtesy of the artist.
62
OnV
i e w
Ma
g a z i n e
.
often than they succeed,” said
writer, Owen Edwards. “In
[these images], Horenstein
has succeeded to a dazzling
degree, evading the abundant
clichés of animal photography
at every turn.”
“I am a photographer, not
a naturalist,” Horenstein wrote
in his artist statement. “My
teachers were legendary artists
Harry Callahan, Aaron Siskind,
and Minor White. What they
taught me was the value of traditional artistic concerns, such
as good composition, interesting light, and compelling sub-
c om
•
O
c t o b e r
/D
e c e m b e r
ject matter. The photographs
shown here were made from
1995-2001. When I started this
series, I was a bit insecure. So
many great (and not so great)
artists had tackled such subjects
since the beginning of time.
How could I add to this daunting history. One thing I did not
want to do was simply document my animals, so I chose
not to shoot in color and not to
show their environment. Rather, I choose to look closely and
abstractly—to see my subjects
for their inherent beauty, oddness, mystery. For this, I shot
2015