Rule without exception

More about the book

This progressive book combines two volumes that explore the breadth of Lewis Baltz’s influential work. Rule Without Exception re-issues Baltz’s award-winning mid-career retrospective, originally published in 1991, which accompanied a traveling exhibition. It surveys his images from “The Prototype Works” (1967) to “Sites of Technology” (1991), featuring installation views and texts by distinguished writers, some newly commissioned for this edition. Only Exceptions is a new volume chronicling Baltz’s site-generated commissioned works from 1992 to the present, published for an exhibition at Kunstmuseum, Bonn. This section includes works from various locations, such as California, Leipzig’s “Black Triangle,” Reggio Emilia, Groningen, Rome, Venice, and collaborations with Jean Nouvel in France and Italy. Born in 1945 in Newport Beach, California, Baltz is a pivotal photographer of the last half-century, gaining prominence with the New Topographics movement of the 1970s. His accolades include a Guggenheim fellowship and the Charles Pratt Memorial Award, with his work featured in major museum collections. Baltz’s publications with Steidl include several notable titles. Exhibitions include Kunstmuseum, Bonn, and Kestnergesellschaft, Hanover.