embassy events

Writers by Nancy Crampton

Writers - Exhibition of Photographs by Nancy Crampton

Nancy has a fine and mysterious way of coming up with the best damn photographs.
The mystery is that it all seems effortless.
                                                                                      —NORMAN MAILER

Pictures that magically combine the immediacy of a snapshot and the premeditated
calm of a formal portrait…an incomparably interesting collection of visions and
insights.
                                                —MARK STRAND, from the Foreword of WRITERS

For thirty-five years now, Nancy Crampton has been a photographer of literary artists, and she can count among her subjects most of the major writers of our time.  Last fall she collected more than a hundred of these portraits in her first book, WRITERS.  To celebrate the book, exhibitions of many of the photographs were held in New York City, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia.  This fall the work was seen outside the U.S. for the first time, in the Czech Republic, traveling to Palacky University, New York University Prague, and the American Center in Pilsen.  Our American Center in Prague is hosting an extended exhibition of these superb portraits.

Nancy Crampton was born in Philadelphia and lives in New York City, where she is the photographer of the Unterberg Poetry Center at the 92nd Street Y, famous for its literary evenings.  A safari in East Africa inspired her to become a professional photographer. 
Over the years her work has appeared on hundreds of book jackets and in countless newspapers and magazines.  Her favorite camera is an old rangefinder, the Leica M3, last manufactured in 1964. 

In the quotations that accompany the portraits, here as in the book, the writers offer personal recollections and thoughts on their craft.

Note:  Copies of WRITERS: Photographs by Nancy Crampton are available at Big Ben Bookshop, Malá Štupartská 5, Praha 1 and other bookstores online.

The exhibit of more than 40 photographs is open to the public at the American Center (Tržiště 13, Prague 1, 1st floor) Dec 18 – Feb 28.
Admission free of charge.
Opening hours: Monday: 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.