Michael Kenna has released more than 90 publications during his prolific 30-year career, and photo-eye Gallery is honored to have a number of exquisite limited edition, 1st edition, and sold out monographs available during our retrospective. The Gallery staff has curated a selection of our five favorite Kenna books now on hand, including a first edition copy of Kenna's seminal 2003 monograph Japan, as well as two of the delightful – and hard to find – One Picture Books by Nazraeli. Please contact the Gallery if you are interested in more information regarding any of these monographs, including their condition, images of signatures, or if you would like the full list of available rare and limited Kenna books currently in stock. Michael Kenna: A Retrospective is on view through September 10th.

MONT ST. MICHEL

Mont St. Michel, presented in its custom slipcase – signed and limited to 250 copies. Matted and Signed Print also included.

The small tidal island of Mont St Michel is situated just off the Normandy coast, connected to the mainland by a single causeway. Its abbey rises like a mirage, high above the sea, on this craggy, rocky perch. It is a spectacular sight, and one that Kenna has been drawn to many times over the years. By day, the island is alive with cars, buses, people, noise. It can seem a garish place. But at night, it becomes as originally intended: a place for peace, prayer, and quiet contemplation. It is that gentler face of Mont St Michel that Kenna wanted to photograph and, after the crowds have gone home, he has been able to do so. Alone, he has climbed the bell tower, explored the crypts and chapels, and ambled along the silent lanes of the island. He has watched, totally undisturbed, as the light changed, shadows came and went, and clouds subtly floated this way and that. While his camera shutter was open for long, long exposures, Kenna cherished the silence. He sees these photographs as a personal record of this time of solitary exploration; it is a record we are privileged to share. Kenna has dedicated this book to his father and, in a deeply moving introduction, he describes the connection he feels between this solid, calm, inspirational place and his much-loved parent.

About the Limited Edition: This Special Edition is limited to 250 copies, signed, numbered and presented in a custom slipcase.

The Special Edition of Mont St. Michel with signed AP print by Michael Kenna.

Nazraeli Press, Tucson, USA, 2007
Deluxe Limited with print
$1500
Contact the Gallery to Purchase

Huangshan

Signed Limited Edition of Huangshan in clamshell box

Huangshan is the name given to a whole range of mountains in Anhui province in eastern China. Also called Yellow mountain, the range is particularly known for its uniquely-shaped granite peaks, ubiquitous pine trees that literally grow out of the rock faces, and the ever changing configurations of flowing clouds as seen from above. Huangshan has been a source of inspiration and a muse for Chinese painters and poets throughout history. It continues to inspire artists today, including Michael Kenna. These forty photographs, which Kenna made over a period of three years, capture both the sublimity and grandeur of these peaks, and quietly reflect on our human interaction with nature. Kenna has written a brief introduction which describes some of his experiences on Huangshan. Beautifully printed in special Daido black ink on uncoated art paper, Huangshan was originally published in an edition of 1,000 numbered, slipcased copies.

BookTease™ for Huangshan, including Huangshan Mountains, Study 27, Anhui, China, 2009  (left) one of the signature images from our Retrospective.

About the Limited Edition: This special edition is limited to 100 signed and numbered copies presented in a custom clamshell box.

Huangshan
Nazraeli Press, Portland, USA, 2011
$750
Contact the Gallery to Purchase

Japan

Japan signed 1st edition presented in its double folded and embossed black cloth portfolio.

Michael Kenna first travelled to Japan in the mid-80s to organize an exhibition of his work at what was then the Min Gallery in Tokyo. Over the ensuing years, he has returned to Japan numerous times, fascinated with the culture of spirituality that is based in the landscape. The New Yorker has praised his "lonely, expansive landscapes, so empty as to appear not just a world but an era apart from the country's cities...In one, the sky and the sea roil in a gray light so dreamy and diffused that it appears less a photograph and more a painting rendered in watery inks. Indeed, there are calligraphic elements in many of these photos, which seems appropriate for an artist who, rather than merely documenting a landscape, has captured the very essence of Japanese aestheticism." This is Kenna's 5th title with Nazraeli Press. The cloth for the book is a silky red and the book comes enclosed in a black cloth portfolio.

Japan, by Michael Kenna, Signed 1st Edition.

We are also offering a limited number of signed, first edition copies in new condition. Note, these copies are new, but have slightly scuffed black cloth portfolio covers that fold over the pristine red cloth book.

Japan.
Nazraeli Press, Tucson, 2003
First edition $350 / Second edition $275
Contact the Gallery to Purchase

Kussharo Lake Tree

"In the winter of 2002, I was most fortunate to have a serendipitous meeting with a glorious Japanese Oak on the banks of Kussharo Lake in Hokkaido, Japan... I have photographed countless trees, but this one had a special character, like an oversized bonsai - elegant, and geographically powerful." — Michael Kenna, from his introduction to One Picture Book #92

“Kenna’s Tree”, as it is still referred to by locals, was cut down at a very old age in August 2009, but not before it became immortalized by the artist; exhibition prints of various studies of the tree are among Kenna’s most sought-after work. This One Picture Book is the artist’s farewell to one of his favorite subjects. Limited quantity at this price.

The One Picture Book Series is limited to 500 copies of each volume. Each copy contains a silver gelatin print signed and numbered by the photographer.

Final page of Kussahro Lake Tree with tipped in Silver-Gelatin print by Michael Kenna.

Kussharo Lake Tree.
One Picture Book #92 (with print)
Nazraeli Press, Paso Robles, CA, USA, 2015
$250
Contact the Gallery to Purchase

Heiden Hotel

Heiden Hotel, One Picture Book #56 by Michael Kenna, front cover and tipped-in toned Silver-Gelatin print.

In June 1976, Michael Kenna first arrived in the United States to work at the Heiden Hotel in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. It was to be an authentic 'coming of age' summer for him. Since then, Kenna has documented the slow decline and eventual fall of the hotel. In June 2008, the crumbling structure burnt to the ground. Kenna drove ten hours with a ruptured appendix to make photographs of the remaining ashes.


Heiden Hotel
One Picture Book #56 (with print)
Nazraeli Press, Portland, 2009
$185
Contact the Gallery to Purchase

Tree and Mountain, Kumamoto, Kyushu, Japan, 2002  Gelatin-Silver Print 8x8" Image,  Edition of 45 $5000 © Michael Kenna

Michael Kenna: A Retrospective continues for 2 more weeks at photo-eye Gallery, and if you are interested in purchasing either prints or monographs please contact the Gallery at 505-988-5152 x 202 or gallery@photoeye.com. 

View Michael Kenna: A Retrospective

Read Savannah Sakry's Interview with Michael Kenna

Also On View: Rachel Phillips – Divinations