Dick Arentz - British Isles

Britain, one would think, should be an ideal territory for the classic landscape photographer. It is a small island with an incredible variety of terrain: wild moors, rolling plains, marshlands, lush woods, placid meadows, craggy coastlines, stark mountains, meandering rivers, and historical artifacts spanning over 4,000 years, all subject to a shape-shifting canopy of endlessly variable light and weather. Yet this land remains one of the most neglected of subjects, even for British photographers. Perhaps it is therefore appropriate for an outsider, albeit a passionate Anglophile, to reveal the more contemplative aspects of the island. Dick Arentz has made over twenty photographic expeditions to the British Isles since 1977, from the Orkney Islands in the far north to Land’s End, the most south-western tip. The resulting negatives – which range from 5 x 7 inches to 12 x 20 inches – are made specifically for the late 19th-century platinum/palladium process, at which the artist is an acknowledged master. British Isles, our second monograph on the work of Dick Arentz, comprises fifty of the artist’s most powerful images from this project, faithfully reproduced in duotone on matt art stock.

Bill Jay 2000