Fathers and Daughters: In Their Own Words

Maraiana Cook's book Fathers and Daughters is dedicated to her father who was eighty years old at the time, and was approaching the end of his life. Cook says "these pictures were made as an exploration" because she became fascinated with every father and daughter" she saw. She was "was anxious to understand their feelings for each other." The book contains 70 full-page black and white photos each containing a father and his daughter(s). These are what one critic called "intimate yet still formal portrait photographs" in which the relationship of the subjects to each other is revealed through their placement, body language, points of contact, the setting, and the objects they chose to have with them in the pictures. In one, the subjects arise out of a sea of stuffed animals. In two others, the father and daughter have a book between them. The subjects had the opportunity to write brief essays about their relationship, but not all chose to do so. These words range from simple to profound as these people delve into their understanding of the father-daughter bond or their own personal relationships. Jaques Seguela, a Parisian advertising executive, writes: "Men love women, as we all know, but actually they prefer girls, by which I mean daughters. Perhaps this is the crux of love, these father-daughter relationships that transcend tenderness and affection, in which admiration, too, transcends objectivity." One father writes about how his daughter saved his life. Often the essays seem to be a way for the person, especially the daughters, to express the inexpressible. Fathers And Daughters begins with an introduction by William Saroyan, who appears in this book with his three daughters. He says: Mariana Cook has in this portfolio of pictures encompassing so many fathers and daughters achieved a substantial miracle of photography. There is not only a remarkable clarity of technique and vision but an ability to capture the nuances or relationship; one can assume that these moments, electric and vivid, are created out of that intuitive grasp of the revealing instant possessed only by the most accomplished artist. There is nothing lax or dilatory in any of these pictures; each has both precision and luminosity, and in each of them one can percieve the nearly visible energy that flows from the intimacy of kinship. That all of these images and arrangements and not entirely harmonious, nor without emotional tension, adds to their appeal, and to their honesty. What matters is the poetic grace with which the artist has arrested for a moment the humor, the tenderness and, most often, the love that underlie one of the best of all human connections. I bought this book for its portraits of famous people. Chinua Achebe, Harry Blackmun, Senator Bill Bradley, Vernon Jordan, Yo Yo Ma, Senator George McGovern, and General Colin Powell are among those depicted. I went on to love it for its honesty and its clear depiction of the best values obtainable in the fat

The heart of this book is a series of photographs showing a father and daughter(s). In many cases, one or the other (or both) then makes brief comments about one another. Although many famous fathers are included, ordinary dads are here, too. The father-daughter relationship is captured only superficially here, because the subjects are protective of each other in both the comments and in the observations. Only occasionally does a glimpse of the core of the relationship come through. I am aware of this from having heard some of the fathers and daughters speak about each other in the past. The introduction by William Styron masterfully captures the father-daughter role in literature, and goes on to explain about his relationship with his three daughters. You see the same transition from openness to great care as he shifts to talking about the women, which shows that the wise father knows how to be both polite and careful in what he says. An exception to this closed material shows up in one of the first comments, in which Charles Waters describes how he taught his daughter, Alice, how to set the table so she wouldn't be criticized by her sister. It's a beautiful, gentle story that can help all fathers and daughters.The only revealing photograph is of Bill Bradley and his daughter Theresa Anne. He has on a terrific looking suit. She is wearing a beautiful dress. They are each relaxed and smiling as they sit on a small seat in the middle of the grass in front of a hedge. Then you look down . . . and see that she's barefoot and he has on old tennis shoes without socks. Suddenly, the whole photograph clicks in a new way and you understand the relaxed relationship they must have with one another, filled with fun. Basically, the photographs fall into three categories. First, there are those where the daughters are dominated by dad. In the most extreme cases, dad is an emperor surrounded by his consorts. The second type has dads who step into the background so the image focuses on the daughter. Some of these seem forced and artificial. The third type shows people who are equally connected to each other in respectful, affectionate ways. I generally liked the third type best, but found them all to be interesting. Here are my favorites: Styrons; Paul Volcker and Janice Zima; Jacques and Bethsabee Attali; Colon, Linda, and Annemarie Powell; Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. and Christina Schlesinger; Yo Yo and Emily Ma; Mark and Madeline Bromley; George and Mary McGovern and Susan McGover; Colin and Rudi Salmon; Allen and Annie Shawn; Harry Blackmun and Nancy Blackmun Coniaris; James Vincent and Jon Marie Gearen; Niccolo Tucci and Maria Gottlieb; Thomas, Luned, and Rosamund Palmer; Claus and Cosima von Bulow; Ron and Sadie Cooper; and Vernon Jordan, Jr. and Vickee Jordan Adams.The photography is done beautifully from a technical point of view. The lighting is great, the contrasts are powerful, and the compositions are insightful. The only problem

...I was pleased, when I received the book, with its size (almost a coffee table-sized book) and with the photography; however, I thought the pictures could have been more intimate. To me, the fathers and daughters looked too much like they had posed. Although a description of the relationship of the figures in the photo may accompany the photograph itself, I feel that the photograph should also depict the closeness (or distance, as the case may be) of the relationship of the fathers & daughters. I won't argue the photography, though. The pictures are beautiful black and white photographs. They just seem to be lacking some emotion...I had hoped that it might seem more personal.