Sketch of Paris

For over twenty years, Swedish photographer JH Engström has lived and worked in Paris, a city that, like New York, has a long photographic pedigree; countless photographers have been inspired by its iconic architecture and busy streets. Sketch of Paris, however, is hardly a catalog of classic Parisian scenes, offering instead a raw yet lyrical portrayal of the artist's misadventures, loves, and random encounters in its streets, bars, and artist lofts-an entirely personal Paris. Drawing more from Nan Goldin and Anders Petersen than Eugène Atget or Henri Cartier-Bresson, Engström brings us on a gritty, no-holds-barred guided tour of life in his adopted city. The photographs provide a type of homage to Paris, a city that has greatly influenced and inspired Engström-as a photographer and as a person. The book brings together 250 color and black-and-white photographs-self-portraits, nudes, portraits of lovers, friends, strangers, and the occasional street scene-all shot between 1991 and 2012, tracing a critical time during the development of the artist's own voice and vision.