Harry Gruyaert – Homeland

Review by Melanie Chapman ·

In this social media saturated era we live in, it seems impossible to escape the vertical visual plague that is filter-enhanced influencers posing and pouting for selfies. Thus, it is a genuinely wonder-filled experience to be in the presence of another fine publication of Belgian photographer Harry Gruyaert’s sublime images.

Sometimes, words fail; and we must be grateful for moments such as these. This is the effect that the masterful work of one of color photography’s pioneers has had upon me since I began collecting his books a few years ago. If you appreciate structural complexity fused with deft handling of muted color pallets in documentary photography, then Homeland, the third Thames and Hudson publication to focus on Gruyaert’s work made in Belgium, will be an excellent addition to your collection as well.

Now 83 years old, Gruyaert was born at the start of World War 2, in Antwerp, Belgium, and by the looks of his early work, it was likely not an environment saturated by sunlight and cheery dispositions. His black and white images feature dour faced priests, couples whose embrace is as formal as the gardens they walk in, and men in woolen coats bracing against the bitter winds along a winter boardwalk. Yet there are hints of humor even then, as seen in images of children wearing costumes on the street for no apparent reason, or the head of John the Baptist displayed on a platter of yet another religious procession.

But it is Gruyaert’s exquisite use of color that has earned him the awe and admiration of his peers and provided a profound influence on street photographers ever since. Gruyaert was inspired by the pioneering color work of American photographers William Eggelston and Stephen Shore, but also quite fascinatingly (as one learns from reading the astute forward by Brice Mathieussent) by Michelangelo Antonioni’s film “Red Desert.” This 1964 film is a must-see for anyone who wants to understand Gruyaert’s fascination with the power of color; red specifically, yet also the moss green and phosphorous yellow that reappear throughout the decades of Gruyaert’s illustrious work.

Like all of the other publications of Harry Gruyaert’s photography, Homeland invites the viewer to continually revisit the work, rewarding your eyes each time with new discoveries hidden within his complex framing, and satisfying your mind with windows through which to experience moments long past yet still startling alive.

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The PhotoBook Journal also featured reviews of Harry Gruyaert’s previous books, Morocco, Between Worlds, Edges, India, and Last Call.

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Melanie Chapman, a Contributing Editor of the PhotoBook Journal, is a photographer based in Southern California.

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Harry Gruyaert – Homeland

Photographer:  Harry Gruyaert (born in Belgium, 1941, lives in Paris)

Text: Foreword Essay by Brice Mathieussent

Publisher:  Thames and Hudson 2024

Hardcover, stitched binding, 256 pages, 170 photographs (Black & White and Color) Printed in Spain, 22.5 X 22.5 cm, ISBN 9780500028995

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Articles and photographs published in the PhotoBook Journal may not be reproduced without the permission of the PhotoBook Journal staff and the photographer(s). All images, texts, and designs are under copyright by the authors and publishers.