This is one of the most curious Edward Burtynsky images we have handled to date. A striking photograph that reveals the photographer's process, but also demonstrates his willingness to experiment with the medium and production. 

"Shipbreaking #2 Field Proof" comes from Burtynsky's Pentimento project, a series of  distressed Polaroid negatives taken as test shots for "Shipbreaking" - and then printed in large format. Raw, unfiltered and in black and white, this powerful image frames the gritty truth of the landscape, while presenting a glimpse into the artist's layered creative process. It is also an exceptionally rare instance of the artist printing in black and white. 

“The image under the image: pentimento. It’s a word drawn from the scholarship of painting, and it describes when the artist has painted over a section of canvas, yet traces of the earlier image persist, reemerging over time. The under-painting rises up as a ghost into the final work, revealing the process of how the painting came to be. Borrowing the word from that context, I apply it to photography, a medium redolent of time, memory and revelation.” — Edward Burtynsky.

"Shipbreaking" is arguably Burtynsky's most distinctive body of work. Mostly shot in Bangladesh, Burtynsky invited the viewer to an incomprehensible landscape on the other side of the horizon where ocean liners meet their end and are dissected, pillaged or abandoned to the elements. These works are intriguing, disturbing, and curiously beautiful. 

Burtynsky's work can be found in the permanent collection of countless museums including the National Gallery of Canada, the Guggenheim, TATE Modern (London), and MoMA, to mention a few.

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"Shipbreaking #2 Field Proof" from the Pentimento project

Bangladesh, 2001

Chromogenic print

From an edition of 12

40”H 32”W (image)

48.75"H 40.75"W (framed)

Framed with museum glass

Very good condition.