The Great State of Texas

Fülszöveg

THE CREAT STATE OF
TEXAS
Photography by Reagan Bradshaw Text by Griffin Smith, jr.
THE GREAT STATE OF TEXAS is a tribute to the people of Texas. Its story will fascinate outsiders, but first and foremost it is intended for Texans. Replacing Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company's 1973 volume, TEXAS, photographer Reagan Bradshaw and author Griffin Smith, jr., offer a fresh perspective rich in history, rich in character, and rich in country.
Bluebonnets flow like a tide across Texas pastures, Gulf Coast beaches sweep south, cattle brands hang on a blacksmith's wall, modern glass towers soar into the Texas sky. All these, as well as the Houston Ship Channel, remote Matagorda Island, and the glorious Alamo form a part of Texas life and this tribute. From primeval Big Thicket to the wilderness of Big Bend National Park, from relaxed and cultivated Austin to colorful and cultured San Antonio, from exciting Dallas to the solitude of the despoblado, the beauty and grandeur of Texas... Tovább

Fülszöveg

THE CREAT STATE OF
TEXAS
Photography by Reagan Bradshaw Text by Griffin Smith, jr.
THE GREAT STATE OF TEXAS is a tribute to the people of Texas. Its story will fascinate outsiders, but first and foremost it is intended for Texans. Replacing Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company's 1973 volume, TEXAS, photographer Reagan Bradshaw and author Griffin Smith, jr., offer a fresh perspective rich in history, rich in character, and rich in country.
Bluebonnets flow like a tide across Texas pastures, Gulf Coast beaches sweep south, cattle brands hang on a blacksmith's wall, modern glass towers soar into the Texas sky. All these, as well as the Houston Ship Channel, remote Matagorda Island, and the glorious Alamo form a part of Texas life and this tribute. From primeval Big Thicket to the wilderness of Big Bend National Park, from relaxed and cultivated Austin to colorful and cultured San Antonio, from exciting Dallas to the solitude of the despoblado, the beauty and grandeur of Texas unfolds.
Professional photographer Reagan Bradshaw, a native Texan, has interpreted his state visually for almost two decades. During the past three years, he has covered its vast distances by foot, car, boat, and private airplane. The result is an awesome, intimate, and down-to-earth portrait of his remarkable state. Bradshaw knows Texas and sees with the eye of an artist who understands the profound beauty of his land. He has created a major collection of full-color photographs documenting the most diverse and astounding of states.
Once an independent nation, the Great State of Texas is author Griffin Smith, jr.'s theme. He describes the present and the past and evokes the sometimes contradictory, always uniquely Texan personality and landscape. Smith conveys what It meant and what it means to be a Texan.
Together, Smith's text and Bradshaw's photographs ride saddle through a land of wide open spaces, personal grit, and unmeasured possibilities. THE GREAT STATE OF TEXAS is a contemporary record of the treasure they found.
jacket Photograph: The Texas State Capitol has been a symbol of Texas pride since its completion in 1888. The Goddess of Liberty holds the Texas Lone Star high above the United States and Texas flags. The seals of six countries that ruled this land adorn the portico over the front entrance.
THE GREAT STATE OF TEXAS
Reagan Bradshaw is a fourth generation Texan who spent his childhood in the deep pine forests of East Texas. He has traveled the state for almost twenty years creating photographs from the wind-swept plains of the Panhandle, the rugged desert mountains of the Trans-Pecos, and the lush reaches of the Gulf Coast and the Rio Grande Valley.
Bradshaw, who handles corporate and advertising photography out of his Austin studio, taught photo-illustration in the Art Department of the University of Texas. His first book, Forgotten Texas, A Wilderness Portfolio, was a study of significant natural areas in the state. His work has appeared in Landscapes of Texas, Texas Wildlife, and The Best of Texas Monthly, as well as numerous magazines. Bradshaw does editorial work for Audubon, Texas Highways, Exxon USA, Fortune and Texas Monthly, and was the founding president of the Austin-San Antonio chapter of the American Society of Magazine Photographers. Bradshaw's work has been shown in galleries and museums from the Panhandle to the Gulf Coast. He has received awards from both the Austin Ad Club and the Houston Art Directors' Club, and his work has been shown in the New York Art Directors' "One Show."
Griffin Smith, jr., writes widely on a variety of Texas subjects. The author of Forgotten Texas: a Wilderness Portfolio, he helped to found Texas Monthly magazine, where he currently serves as a contributing editor.
His essays on travel and public affairs appear in numerous regional and national magazines, including the Texas Observer, Texas Monthly, Atlantic Monthly, and Saturday Review. He is a regular contributor to National Geographic Magazine and coauthored the National Geographic Society's book. Journey into China.
Smith graduated from Rice University in Houston and the University of Texas School of Law. He holds a master's degree in government from Columbia University and studied political and social philosophy at St. Catherine's College, Oxford. His extensive travels have taken him to more than seventy-five countries, including overland journeys across Eastern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Southern Africa, and Southeast Asia. When not traveling around the world or in his favorite state of Texas, Smith, a practicing attorney, resides in Little Rock, Arkansas.
During sixteen years in Texas, Griffin Smith, jr., served as editorial consultant for the University of Texas Natural Areas Survey Project and as chief counsel to three committees of the Texas Senate. A member of the Texas Institute of Letters since 1976, he has twice received the Institute's annual prize for the best work of Texas journalism. Vissza