cover image Transformations

Transformations

Joyce Tenneson. Little Brown and Company, $41.2 (127pp) ISBN 978-0-8212-1933-1

Human beings stripped of all but the lightest raiment dwell serene, contemplative and melancholy in this selection from a Tenneson exhibit at the International Center of Photography in New York City. In her introduction, Goldberg points out that Tenneson's work ``composes itself around dualities'': ``angel and menace, childhood and age, beauty and sorrow.'' We see more than one madonna, a biblical patriarch, women and children arcanely adorned and obscurely posed. In an interview with Tannous, Tenneson calls herself a voyeur, but hers are the least erotic of nudes, meant to be ``a kind of window on the psyche.'' Unfortunately, the interview is dominated by her trendy expositions in the ``finding myself'' mode. Tenneson has strong credentials in portrait, fashion, beauty, editorial and fine arts photography. (Feb.)