Hélène Binet
ISBN 978 1 84822 594 7
£49.99
By Marco Iuliano and Martino Stierli
Published by Lund Humphries
Reviewed for c20, the magazine of the Twentieth Century Society
In the world of architectural photography, Hélène Binet is an outlier. Arguably the most renowned of her profession, she has been honoured with a retrospective at the Royal Academy, not to mention multiple awards, fellowships, exhibitions and monographs. Best known for her collaborations with architects such as Zaha Hadid and Daniel Libeskind, she enjoys a reputation extending beyond the boundaries of architecture and photography.
She is exceptional in other ways. Despite the convenience of digital, Binet has remained stubbornly attached to analogue photography, using large and medium-format film cameras that demand a slow pace of observation and working. Unlike the literal nature of most architectural photography, her work is abstract and elusive, often presented as sequences of tantalising glimpses rather than a wide angle view.
A significant strand of her work documents the construction process; she isn’t solely interested in the polished final product. Binet also works mainly in monochrome instead of generally-favoured colour. She offers a rare female perspective in an overwhelmingly male domain.
Marco Iuliano and Martino Stierli’s monograph launches their planned series about architectural photographers (next up is Richard Bryant). Charting Binet’s 40 year career, the book encompasses photography of contemporary and historical architecture, still-lives and landscapes. The beautifully-reproduced images are accompanied by essays by each author. Iuliano explores Binet’s background while Stierli places her work within a wider conceptual framework.
Iuliano finds significance in Binet’s childhood. Born in Switzerland, she moved to Italy aged four, her childhood divided between Rome’s splendour and the picturesque fishing village of Sperlonga. The modulation of daylight by Sperlonga’s whitewashed buildings profoundly affected Binet’s imagination. Early photographic experiments capture the village as a series of semi-abstract compositions exploring light, geometry and texture, providing a blueprint of what was to come.
Binet discovered the work of modernist photographers including Lucien Hervé, known for his collaboration with Le Corbusier. Brought up within a musical family, Binet not only shares Hervé’s interest in abstraction but also a belief that photography and music are deeply related. She has described herself as a ‘musician’ interpreting an architectural score through photography.
The major part of the book is a ‘catalogue’ of Binet’s work divided into thematic categories. Images are presented captionless, a ‘deliberate choice to prioritise the artistic interpretation of the subject’. Iuliano argues that this will stimulate our imaginations, ‘devising an alternative “reality” that might be radically different from the personal experience of the space’. Be prepared for the frequent turning of pages to access the captions at the back.
Binet’s hungry eye alights upon both ancient and modern subjects. Images of Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli emphasise the textures of weathered stone and the experience of squinting into the sky to examine the imposing ruins. A sequence of changing light and shadows at Le Corbusier’s La Tourette conjure the passage of time, encouraging slow contemplation rather than today’s desire for instant gratification.
Deeply shadowed images of Lewerentz’s St Mark’s Church allow us to glance at the building as if we are traipsing through the snow around its brick walls. Each image has its own beauty, and in combination they provide a powerful evocation of place; there is nothing reductive about Binet’s work. Peter Zumthor’s Vale thermal baths are similarly presented as a sequence of ‘fragmentary impressions’ that would be encountered while moving through the spaces ‘akin to a cinematic experience’ that encourages viewers to construct their own meanings, argues Stierli.
Lack of captions aside, the book provides a beautiful overview of Binet’s work. It could be argued that a more comprehensive tome is in order, but for now, quiet contemplation of the photographs presented in this 160-page book are the perfect way to pass a few hours.