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BASEBALL
PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID LEVINTHAL
Text by Jonathan Mahler
For more than three decades, artist David Levinthal has examined American
popular culture and social mores as reflected through toys and miniatures. For
Levinthal, the playful surface and shiny sheen of children's objects shroud other
meanings, which he cleverly uncovers in large format photographs that are equally
stunning for both their beauty and irony. In series, like Wild West, American
Beauties or Modern Romance, Levinthal pierces the mythology of quintessentially
American subjects while also playing to our collective nostalgia. His is a vision
that not only underscores our country's uniqueness but also its desire for iconic
representations and recognizable heroes.
Perhaps no series to date by Levinthal shows this more than his ongoing work
about professional American baseball. Quite possibly the most accessible of
all his series, Levinthal's Baseball is remarkable for its straightforward
celebration of America's most beloved sport.
With both antique and recently manufactured figurines, the
artist has recreated some of the legendary moments that color baseball's storied
history—for example, Don Larsen's perfect game in 1956, Carlton Fisk waving
fair his 12th-innning home run to give Boston game six of the 1975 World Series,
and Mark McGuire's record setting 70th home run in 1998. The breadth of stars
portrayed includes past and present players such as Babe Ruth, Derek Jeter, Satchel
Paige, Ozzie Smith, Reggie Jackson, Willie Mays, Roger Clemens, Jackie Robinson,
Pedro Martinez, and Joe DiMaggio among many others.
Baseball affords a colorful view of the best and the boldest athletes to have
ever played the sport. It is a book that will thrill enthusiasts of baseball and
photography alike. The book promises to be among Levinthal's very best in a career
that is nothing short of stellar.
David Levinthal's previous books include the now legendary Hitler Moves
East: A Graphic Chronicle, 1941–43, co-authored by Doonesbury cartoonist Garry
Trudeau and Barbie Millicent Roberts: An Original, with text by Valerie Steele.
Jonathan Mahler is the author of Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx Is
Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City and The Lexus
Story, among many other works.
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