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Regardless of his sitter-whether family member or influential celebrity-Nadav Kander's portraiture shows what makes that particular individual human. His aim is to move beyond capturing an accurate likeness-to access the emotions within, the uncertainty, the shadow as much as the light, the complex sense of self that otherwise lays hidden. "Revealed and concealed, beauty and destruction, ease and disease, shame and shameless," explains Kander, "These paradoxes are essential to all my work and represent what is common to all my varied subject matter..." This collection, the first book dedicated his portraiture, shows the range and nuance of Kander's work.With his minimal and intuitive approach, Kander shows his interest in universal experience, which transcends the specificity of public persona or status. His enigmatic depictions of actors, artists, musicians, authors, sports icons and political leaders-from Barack Obama, John le Carré, Alexander McQueen, to Tracey Emin, Robert Plant and Prince Charles-are layered and penetrating, revealing unexpected moments of reverie and vulnerability.
About the author
Born in 1961, Nadav Kander lives and works in London. Selected past projects include “Yangtze – The Long River,”winner of the Prix Pictet award in 2009; “Dust,” which explores the vestiges of the Cold War through the radioactive ruins of secret cities between Kazakhstan and Russia; “Bodies 6 Women, 1 Man”; and “Obama’s People,” an acclaimed 52 portrait series commissioned by the New York Times Magazine. Kander’s work is held in collections including the National Portrait Gallery, London; the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; and the Statoil Collection, Norway. His exhibitions include those at the Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego; the Museum of Applied Arts, Cologne; and Somerset House, London. Kander’s recent awards include an Honorary Fellowship Award from the Royal Photographic Society and the Sony Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award 2019.
