In May, Ron Amato, professor of Photography and Related Media, released Artists of Provincetown, a book of photographic portraits of artists who live in the seaside Massachusetts town. Made over a period of eight years, the book contains 84 images of sculptors, painters, photographers, and writers, illustrating the artistic breadth of this 125-year-old community, known as the United States’ oldest continuous art colony.
The book was produced in collaboration with the Provincetown Art Association and Museum on the occasion of the exhibition Ron Amato: Artists of Provincetown, which opened in June and is on view through August 18.
Among the featured artists are Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and screenwriter Michael Cunningham (who also wrote the book’s introduction), actress Lea Delaria, novelist Paul Lisicky, photographer and artist Jack Pierson, author Andrew Sullivan, and filmmaker and writer John Waters.
Artists of Provincetown has received press coverage in the Boston Herald, Boston Spirit, Provincetown Independent, and Provincetown Arts magazine. In the Independent, Amato shared his process of collaborating with the artists themselves to select the settings for their portraits: “I never dictated where I wanted to photograph anyone,” Amato says. “… I needed the artist’s peace of mind to be a part of the image. The emotional state they’re in when I’m making pictures is important. Donald Beal took me to a place in the Beech Forest that inspired him. Jim Broussard told me he often painted on the pier.”
The book is the third monograph by Amato. His previous books are The Box and 100 Members Only Volume 1.
Catch archive video of a lecture Amato gave at the Provincetown Art Association on July 18 about his exhibition below.