“Colorado 1870-2000 II,” by John Fielder (Westcliffe, 156 pages, $45)
John Fielder’s 1999 “Colorado 1870-2000” is a regional phenomenon. The book has sold 135,000 copies, surely a record for any locally published book. Using photos taken more than 100 years ago by famed early-day photographer William Henry Jackson, Fielder found the exact locations where Jackson stood and reproduced the shots. He came up with some 300 images but used only half of them in that book. Time now to print the rest – and in a cheaper, smaller volume that weighs less than the original 7-pounder.
While Fielder may have used the best of his photographs in the first volume, “Colorado 1870-2000 II” is no slacker. The 106 pairs of then-and-now pictures, many of them landscapes, are dramatic and varied. Text by Gillian Klueas explains each location.
Some of the sites are unchanged from Jackson’s day. It’s almost impossible to tell which is then and which now in the photos of the 19th Street bridge over the Platte in Denver. Other sites look better now than 100 years ago.
In Jackson’s time, Curecanti Needle had a railroad bed and construction rubble. Today, such intrusions are under the waters of the Morrow Point Reservoir. Other comparison photographs show Colorado is the worse for wear, mostly because civilization has intruded.
Fielder is a superb photographer, and “Colorado 1870-2000” is his Christmas present to Colorado.
“Making a Hand: Growing up Cowboy in New Mexico,” photographs by Gene Peach; text by Max Evans (Museum of New Mexico Press, 160 pages, $39.95)
There was a time when most Americans grew up in rural areas. Now only the lucky ones do. Being raised in the saddle isn’t easy, but kids learn to work hard and become self-reliant, as these photos by Gene Peach show.
His pictures of children on New Mexico ranches include kids roping and branding, riding and herding, and just horsing around. The most moving of the photographs is one of a 10-year-old steer rider, head bowed and hat over his heart, observing the opening prayer at a 4-H rodeo. The next- best thing to growing up in the country just might be looking at Peach’s photographs.
“Western Traditions: Contemporary Artists of the American West,” by Michael Duty and Suzanne Deats. (Fresco Fine Art Publications, 279 pages, $85)
Some of those ranch kids grow up to be Western artists – although not all cowboy artists come from rural backgrounds. Xiang Zhang was born (in the year of the horse) and raised in China, then studied art at Tulane University in New Orleans.
From the time he was a boy, he drew horses, often inspired by American Westerns. Today, he paints the West and is known for his depiction of working horses, write Michael Duty and Suzanne Deats in this oversize book on cowboy art.
The authors include about 40 living Western artists. They range from Harry Jackson, known for his bronze sculptures, which are often painted, to painter James Bama and sculptor Glenna Goodacre. Of course, this oversize book includes dozens of reproductions of paintings.
There’s also an introduction telling where today’s artists place in the tradition of Charles Russell and Frederic Remington.
“Colorado Wildlife Portfolio,” by Lee Kline (Farcountry Press, 120 pages, $24.95)
If you know where to look, Colorado has plenty of wildlife. If you don’t, there’s Lee Kline’s “Colorado Wildlife Portfolio.”
Wildlife is abundant in Colorado, and it goes beyond the coyotes that occasionally wander into the suburbs or the mountain sheep that feed along Interstate 70 near Georgetown. Colorado has elk, pronghorn antelope, porcupines, deer, bear and rabbits. And, oh, the birds! Wild turkeys, soaring eagles, cuddly burrowing young owls and mountain bluebirds the color of the summer sky.
Over a 20-year period, Kline captured them all, and his photographs make up this portfolio. His captions are explanatory and often funny. Beneath a picture of a cute little long-tailed weasel, Kline writes, “If chipmunks, mice, and other small rodents have nightmares, the long-tailed weasel is most likely the cause.”
“Colorado Wild and Beautiful,” by Glenn Randall (Farcountry, 119 pages, $29.95)
This is Colorado at its best – shimmering golden aspen, snow-clad mountaintops at dusk, fields of blue columbine, a rainbow over an aspen grove. Glenn Randall took these photographs over more than 30 years, scouring the state on foot and on skis in search of subjects.
While landscapes dominate this splendid book of 125 color photographs, there are also shots of skiers and climbers, wildlife and architecture and historic sites.
“Home: Native People in the Southwest,” Ann Marshall, editor (Museum of New Mexico Press; 192 pages; cloth $50, paper $35)
The Heard Museum collection is the basis of this book on Indian art and artists. Quotes from American Indian artists are threaded throughout the narrative.
In a piece about pueblo ovens, Dan Simplico Jr., a Zuni, says, “My favorite food was raisin cinnamon bread. It’s traditionally baked in the Zuni hornos.” When he was initiated into the tribe, he adds, he went through a four-day fast, expecting that when it was over, he would feast on the loaves he saw being made. Alas, the bread went to his godfather.
Vivienne Caron Jake, a Kaibab Paiute, explains, “The way of doing things was to do it together. If women had basketry to be made, they did it together. If they had to harvest the willows for baskets, they would do it together.”
The comments add an interesting dimension to a book that is crammed with photographs of Indian pottery, weaving, jewelry and other crafts.
“Along the Edge of Daylight: Photographic Travels From Nebraska and the Great Plains,” by George Joutras (University of Nebraska Press, 144 pages, $45)
We have such spectacular mountains in Colorado that we sometimes overlook the majesty of the Great Plains. George Joutras doesn’t, and his book of photographs is a stirring look at seas of dried grasses and grand bluffs, and at the wildlife that populates the prairie.
He also includes the residue of humans. The most dramatic photo, titled “The Island of Misfit Toys,” is a two-page spread of a field with perhaps 100 snow-covered farm relics – tractors, trucks, cultivators and other pieces of equipment.
Sandra Dallas is a Denver novelist who writes a monthly column on new regional nonfiction.
