Harry Gruyaert’s masterpiece.

The Belgian Magnum photographer Harry Gruyeart, born in 1941, has summarized his beach landscapes in a magnificent book titled simply ‘Edges’.

The book, which appropriately opens in horizontal format, contains 89 color images printed on matte paper. This works well. Gruyaert is a master of sparse color, in the tradition of Saul Leiter, Fred Herzog or Keld Helmer-Petersen. But he is very much his own man and it takes no degree in art history to expostulate “That’s a Gruyeart!”

‘Edges’ is a retrospective of 40 years of Gruyaert’s work and is recommended without reservation. While the images were mostly made in Europe and North Africa, the feel is intensely European throughout. This is fabulous work, beautifully seen and composed, pure and simple.