Lee Friedlander's monograph on STEMS not only represents a tender history of an artist's temporary battle with physical restriction and pain, it is also one of the more eloquent collections of black and white photography on a narrow subject to appear in book form.
These beautifully photographed and equally beautifully printed and presented series of images were taken when Friedlander was confined to sitting, a position not compatible with a photographer out in the fields of the world capturing life as it continues in motion. But due to physical restrictions, Friedlander had to either be artistically silent or elect to combat his dilemma by using his camera to study the simple beauty of nature at hand. And, so like his proclivities in all of his art, he elected to use the stems of flowers and plants as subject, including the cylinders and vases of water into which they had been placed. Some of the more eloquent photographs come at the end of the portfolio when Friedlander captured the containers of his subjects in the empty state - levels of water in class containers alone and in tandem. The results defy written description: these are subtle, tenuous, fragile works of art with few peers as still life.
The production of this portfolio is in keeping with the content: the cloth covered cover is in a mossy green and the binding, quality of paper and of reproductions is of the highest order. This is a unique and very beautiful book. Grady Harp, January 06