While visiting Rome, world-renowned photographer Gregory Crewdson was invited to tour the legendary film studio Cinecittà, where directors such as Federico Fellini and Roberto Rossellini shot their iconic works. He found the elaborate film sets fallen into ruin and, captivated by their beauty, chose them as the subject of his next body of work. Although his earlier series were characterized by large production crews, custom-built soundstages, and hired actors, Crewdson returned to Rome with only a small team to create the haunting black-and-white portraits of deteriorating buildings and deserted streets that are flawlessly reproduced in this book. Admirers of Crewdson’s work will find these new photographs are a bold departure, which yet convey the dramatic subtext and charged emotions that characterize his earlier works.

Gregory Crewdson is an internationally exhibited artist whose previous books with Abrams include Beneath the Roses and Twilight. He teaches at the Yale University School of Art and lives in New York City.

 

A. O. Scott has been a film critic for the New York Times since 2000 and began his tenure as cohost of the television program At the Movies in 2009.