Across the West and Toward the North: Norwegian and American Landscape Photography by Shannon Egan and Marthe Tolnes Fjellestad (review)

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• Across the West and Toward the North: Norwegian and American Landscape Photography by Shannon Egan and Marthe Tolnes Fjellestad
• Carolina Arellanos

Shannon Egan and Marthe Tolnes Fjellestad, Across the West and Toward the North: Norwegian and American Landscape Photography. Salt Lake City: U of Utah P, 2022. 229 pp. Hardcover, $69.96; paper, $34.95.

Across the West and Toward the North: Norwegian and American Landscape Photography depicts the curatorial collaboration between Shannon Eagan and Marthe Tolnes Fjellestad. This book is accompanied by an exhibition featuring photographs by pioneer Norwegian photographer Knud Knudsen and Danish photographer Sophus Tromholt. Both Knudsen and Tromholt were based in Bergen, Norway, in the latter half of the nineteenth century. In this book Eagan and Fjellestad create a cross-cultural dialogue that explores the complex relationships between photography, landscape, and national identities as well as humankind's relationship to nature.

Across The West and Toward the North features eleven essays by contemporary art historians and curators discussing topics such as ecology, environmental history, climate change, masculinity in photography, gender bias, and industrial impacts. The essays are accompanied by photographs from the national documentary heritage of Norwegian and American landscape photographers, featuring examples of analog photographic techniques such as albumen prints, glass plate negatives, stereoscopic cards, and silver gelatin prints.

The photographs challenge the conventional view of the sublime Norwegian and American landscapes; focusing instead on the dramatic contrast of the horizontal and vertical lines, the photographs explore the fjord-meets-mountain themes common in the nineteenth century, providing the viewer with a preview of the photographer's determination to overcome mental, physical, and environmental obstacles in order to document or capture the harsh landscapes they were exploring. These photographs made remote areas accessible, giving the public a window into a new world while sparking human interest, curiosity, and imagination.

The concepts and themes discussed by the authors are relevant to our present day, subjects such as gender inequality in the photography field, climate change, tourism, and human environmental [End Page 291] impact on the land. With photography "history" is no longer tied to the past; photography creates a temporality. These photographs transcend time and are echoes of the past; I believe that a photograph is an entity that lives, evolves, and has potential for change. As Egan writes, "Photography assumes an immediacy and presentness of the photographer's experiences that is passed along with stunning veracity to its viewer" (18).

This book is a great resource for any photographer, educator, researcher, darkroom enthusiast, or student. The themes, concepts, and conversations that are presented by the authors and the beautiful images depicted produce a dialogue that allows the viewer to compare motifs, composition, and intent. This book is a wonderful source for exploration, discovery, and contemplation.

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