Tir A' Mhurain: The Outer Hebrides of Scotland [Hardcover]

In 1954 Paul Strand and his wife, Hazel, spent three months traversing the rugged island of South Uist, off the west coast of Scotland. Tir a' Mhurain is a collection of photographs that reflects the impressions they gathered during their stay. Juxtaposing people and landscape, Strand's beautifully sequenced photographs depict the perfect complicity he saw between nature and habitation in this wild terrain. Whether it is a view of rocks and the sea or a grinning shepherd boy, scudding clouds hanging over seaside houses, or the wrinkled face of an old lady framed by a knitted shawl, Strand's images transcend the ephemeral. By alternating portraits with staggeringly beautiful images of the environment, he not only evokes the rich inner life of his subjects but allows people and landscape to complement one another.

Paul Strand's early association with Alfred Stieglitz and the artists who were exhibiting at 291 Gallery determined his lifelong devotion to photography. An acknowledged artist of still photography, in 1921 he turned to filmmaking. In 1945 the Museum of Modern Art devoted its first one-man photography exhibition to Strand's work. Two years later he collaborated with Nancy Newhall on a project that was published as Time in New England, the first of Strand's innovative photographic books. It was followed by La France de Profil, Un Paese, Tir a' Mhurain, Living Egypt, and Ghana: An African Portrait.

A masterpiece of pictorial brilliance that interweaves the eternal symbols of nature with humankind to create the feeling and experience of life itself.

In 1954 Paul Strand and his wife, Hazel, spent three months traversing the rugged island of South Uist, off the west coast of Scotland. Tir a' Mhurain is a collection of photographs that reflects the impressions they gathered during their stay. Juxtaposing people and landscape, Strand's beautifully sequenced photographs depict the perfect complicity he saw between nature and habitation in this wild terrain. Whether it is a view of rocks and the sea or a grinning shepherd boy, scudding clouds hanging over seaside houses, or the wrinkled face of an old lady framed by a knitted shawl, Strand's images transcend the ephemeral. By alternating portraits with staggeringly beautiful images of the environment, he not only evokes the rich inner life of his subjects but allows people and landscape to complement one another.

Paul Strand's early association with Alfred Stieglitz and the artists who were exhibiting at 291 Gallery determined his lifelong devotion to photography. An acknowledged artist of still photography, in 1921 he turned to filmmaking. In 1945 the Museum of Modern Art devoted its first one-man photography exhibition to Strand's work. Two years later he collaborated with Nancy Newhall on a project that was published as Time in New England, the first of Strand's innovative photographic books. It was followed by La France de Profil, Un Paese, Tir a' Mhurain, Living Egypt, and Ghana: An African Portrait.

Paul Strand began photographing at age eighteen. In 1967 he was awarded the David Octavius Hill Medal. Strand died in Orgeval, France, in 1976. Basil Davidson is the author of over thirty books on Africa.