First printed in 1972, The English Sunrise was a collaboration between British artists Brian Rice and Tony Evans. In the mid-1960s, Rice had been creating paintings featuring hard-edge geometries and contrasting colors and shapes. “I got around to dividing the canvas in various ways, including lines radiating from one corner,” he explained of his practice at the time. “As references, I took some snaps of doors, gates, windows, etc., which used this motif.” Rice showed the photos to Evans, another artist and a close friend (who passed away in 1992). Evans offered to take pictures of anything he came across that corresponded to Rice’s interest in radial forms, while Rice began acquiring relevant objects from markets and junk shops

This is little paperback, it measures eight inches square and is about a quarter of an thick (23cm x 23cm x 0.6cm), contains a collection of photographs, and apart from the concluding two pages containing a list of the images and their source, nothing else; no supporting text or explanation – but then none is necessary.

These are not pictures of glowing skies as the sun rises over some distant landscape. No, each photograph represents a sunrise as found in every day objects with which we are probably familiar if not necessarily aware. The sunrise as depicted here is to be found in the design of a garden gate, a company logo, the gable of a house, a perfume bottle or a tea cosy to mention just a few. The images are presented one to a page in splendid isolation on the abundant white surface.

This is a delightful little publication, beautifully if unassumingly presented, which may perhaps wake many up to the fact that we walk around unseeing, but if nothing else it is great fun to browse through. ( )

Charming little photography book that has the motif of sunrise in numerous presentations: fences, window sashes, car grilles, drain covers... ( )