Gabriele Basilico, 1996,
published by Phaidon, 2005,
www.phaidon.com
The book is laid out in chronological order and the first photograph is of an industrial worker from 1973, almost the only human in the book, and certainly the only portrait. Basilico began his career as a social reporter, with an equal emphasis on people, city and landscape but architecture and landscape took over in 1978-9 with his "portraits of factories" and the book really starts from here.
We can see Basilico's concentration as we go from somewhat abstract images such as the one on the previous page from Milan in 1978 to this shot from 1996, taken as part of a series of cross country journeys which shows his fascination with the outskirts of a city, that strange zone between urban and rural.
This book represents photographs taken from 1973 to 2000 and includes an essay by Francesco Bonami. Each photograph is accompanied by a short paragraph by Basilico and these are very useful to understanding his work. They are, in fact, much more revealing than the opening essay which is more general in scope.