Written in the West

Preparing his movie Paris, Texas in late 1983, German filmmaker Wim Wenders travelled the West equipped with a 6x7 medium format camera in search of subjects and locations that would bring this desolate landscape to life. Driving the empty highways of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California he was transfixed by the vastness of a country saturated with light and color and energized by the American cowboy mystique????????????a country that even in the 20th century had lost none of its evocative, mythic power. This collection of lush, colorful photographs displays dramatic, visually arresting images, haunting vistas and the poetic dilapidation of a country touched by man but ruled by nature. An interview with the photographer reveals the many ways Wenders was both moved and bemused by the heartland of the American Dream. His sensibility, along with outstanding photographic skills, allows us to expericence the West in a whole new brillianty colorful light.