Elena Herzog (; born 1970) is a Russian-American visual artist and photographer.
Early life Elena Pisetski was born in 1970 in Sverdlovsk, Russian SFSR (present-day Yekaterinburg, Russia). In 1987, Herzog moved to Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) to attend the Philological Faculty of Leningrad University, where she studied languages (English and Spanish) and literature. In 1990, she emigrated to the United States and graduated with a degree in philosophy from Mills College, specializing in the history and philosophy of science. Herzog was also a research consultant at Stanford University.Greenstreet, Rosanna. "Q & A: Lena Herzog". The Guardian, London, November 22, 2003.
Career She started taking photographs in 1997 and studied photographic printing techniques with Italian printer Ivan Dalla Tana in Milan and later with French printer Marc Valesella. Herzog combines some of the very early photographic darkroom processes with contemporary ones and her own techniques to achieve her desired effects.
Herzog's work ranges from classical documentary to the experimental and conceptual and has been published and reviewed in The New Yorker,Frazier, Ian. "The March of the Strandbeests". The New Yorker, September 5, 2011. The New York Times,Harrison, Kathryn,"Lost Souls" (book review). The New York Times, December 5, 2010. The Los Angeles Times,Wertheim, Margaret, "The Light Stuff," Los Angeles Times, December 5, 2004. The Paris Review,Herzog, Lena & Graham Dorrington, "Airship," The Paris Review, New York, Spring 2008. Harper’s Magazine,Herzog, Lena. "Garden of Rocks," Harper's Magazine, New York, May, 2008. El País,Molina, Margot, "La fotógrafa rusa Lena Herzog refleja en su libro 'Tauromaquia' el sentimento de la fiesta," , Madrid, April 19, 2002. El MundoCejudo, Andres Marin, , "La mirada apócrifa," El Mundo, April 16, 2002. The Believer,Weschler, Lawrence. "Lena Herzog [Photographer]." The Believer, June 2011. The British Journal of Photography,Sumner, Dawn. "Spanish Eyes: Interview" , The British Journal of Photography, December 12–31, 2003. and Cabinet,Herzog, Lena, "Rhapsody in Death". Cabinet Magazine, Winter 2009–2010. among others. Her work has been exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,, "LACMA News Release," October, 2003 Pasadena Museum of California Art,"International Buddhist Film Festival Debuts at Los Angeles County Museum of Art". PRNewswire, October 23, 2003. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco), the International Center of Photography (New York), and the British Museum, among others.
Her book Strandbeest: the Dream Machines of Theo Jansen was published by TASCHEN in 2014. Herzog has authored six books / monographs of photography.
In 2016, Herzog's complex video/audio installation Last Whispers: Oratorio for Vanishing Voices, Collapsing Universes and a Falling Tree, in which she collaborated with composer and director Marco Capalbo and sound designer Mark Mangini, premiered at the British Museum in the Living and Dying Gallery adjacent to the Rosetta Stone. A film and surround-sound experience that incorporates archival recordings of endangered languages, Last Whispers began a world tour in 2019.Woolfe, Zachary (October 11, 2019). "Dying Languages Cry Out in ‘Last Whispers’". New York Times. Retrieved October 12, 2019. Print version, October 12, p. C5.
Personal life Herzog is an American citizen, naturalized in 1999. Since 1995, she has lived in California with her husband, German filmmaker Werner Herzog. They have collaborated on several projects including a book of stills from the film Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans which was published by Rizzoli in 2009. Werner Herzog wrote the introduction to Lena's book Pilgrims, which was released in 2002.
Bibliography
Books Strandbeest. The Dream Machines of Theo Jansen (2014) Lost Souls (2010) Bad Lieutenant (2009) Flamenco: Dance Class Tauromaquia: The Art of Bullfighting Pilgrims (2002)
Exhibitions Panoramas, Fahey / Klein Gallery, Los Angeles (2012) Lost Souls, International Center of Photography (2010) The Circle of Bliss, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2003) Reflecting Buddha, Pasadena Museum of California Art (2003) Ensayo, (multimedia show) Yerba Buena Center of the Performing Arts, San Francisco (2003) Flamenco, Foyles Gallery, London (2003) Tauromaquia, Museum of Carruajes, Seville, Spain (2002) Below Zero, Focus Gallery, San Francisco (2000) Black and White Photographs from Andalucia and Shinxiang, Focus Gallery, San Francisco (1998)
References
External links
New York Times Book Review of Lena Herzog's "Lost Souls" NYPL conversation with Lawrence Weschler "Lost Souls" Audio Slideshow (NPR)