Böcker av Henry Leutwyler

This book is Henry Leutwyler's meticulous photographic record of the treasures of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva. In his trademark style, Leutwyler does not merely document objects but creates portraits of them, conjuring up their past lives and imbuing the inanimate with character. Here he sifted through the nearly 30,000 objects in the museum, shaping a selection that most movingly conveys the vital functions of the Red Cross: to provide humanitarian protection and emergency aid, to deliver medical and community support, particularly for the poor and underprivileged. Among a variety of others, Leutwyler shows us objects famously symbolic of the Red Cross (first-aid kits, uniforms, armbands), confronting finds (amputation saws, a cannonball), as well as the unexpectedly beautiful: delicate beaded flowers made by a prisoner of war. His focus is on the details of objects, their imperfections, decay and often the damage they have endured: evocative of the people who put them to real humanitarian use.

Henry Leutwyler is certainly no stranger to the art of ballet-for many years he photographed on stage and behind the scenes at the New York City Ballet, culminating in his book Ballet, since published by Steidl in two editions. Yet Misty Copeland pushes Leutwyler's vision into a new direction: neither a strict portrait of the renowned ballerina nor a mere documentation of her exceptional craft, this is an intimate collaboration between photographer and subject that explores the subtleties of Copeland as a performer, person, persona and idol.Born in Kansas City, Missouri, and raised in San Pedro, California, Copeland's biography has all the arc of a fairy tale: she was living in a shabby hotel room, struggling with five siblings for a place to sleep on the floor, when she began ballet studies at the late age of 13. She soon proved a prodigy: within three months of her first class she was dancing en pointe, in just over a year she was performing professionally. In 2015 she became the first African-American woman appointed principal dancer at the prestigious American Ballet Theatre in the 75 years of its existence. In Copeland's own words: "The path to your success is not as fixed and inflexible as you think."