Artist Statement for the Book Project
ITALIAN JOURNEY
Inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
In 1786 Germany's greatest poet, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, heads for the Italy he has been yearning to see since childhood. He leaves behind his growing frustration with administrative work, a difficult love affair with Charlotte von Stein, and his lack of time for writing. At the age of 37 he has become frustrated and divided against himself, overworked yet underachieving, disillusioned and depressed. The gloom of northern skies further intensifies his personal darkness: reason enough for a break. At five o' clock in the morning on September 3rd, he leaves Carlsbad by stage coach. He will travel to Eger, Regensburg, Munich, Bolzano, Malcesine, Verona, Padua, Venice, Ferrara, Bologna, Florence, Perugia, Lojano, the Appenines, Assisi and Rome. I have made precisely the same trip, visiting the same stations on exactly the same day as did the poetâ??only 223 years later.
Eric Klemm is born in Germany 1939, he first studied graphic design and turned seriously to photography in 1968, living in Heidelberg and Duesseldorf at the time. Klemm has been affiliated with the legendary German magazine Twen
and has contributed to most of the German top magazines such as: Stern, Freundin, Zeit- Magazin, the German edition of Playboy, and others.
1972 Eric Klemm became a member of the prestigious Deutsche Gesellschaft
fuer Photographie and has published 5 books. After many years living in Dordogne, France, and on a tropical island in the Maldives, Klemm immigrated to Canada in 1998 where he also began painting.
Since 2004 he works solely as a photography related artist. His new photographic work has been shown in Canada, the USA, Germany, and at International photo festivals such as: FotoFest, Houston, The Eleventh Biennial for Photography and Photo Related Art, and Foto&Photo, Milan, Italy. Some of Klemm's photographs have been included in the 2007 exhibition of the National Portrait Gallery, London. Eric Klemm's most ambitious project Silent Warriors - Portraits of North American Indians, will be published by Steidl, Germany,
in 2009. Eric Klemm is recipient of numerous Awards. The most recent are: Prix de la Photographie Paris, and International Photography Awards, Los Angeles.
In 2007 Klemm was named one of the Critical Mass "Top 50 Photographers" by Photolucida. Klemm's photographs have been published in International magazines as: Designers Digest, Germany, the Russian edition of Esquire, European Photography, and Prefix Photo. He has his work in private and corporate collections. Eric Klemm now lives and works on Salt Spring Island,
near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. www.ericklemm.com
