BRUCE WEBER ALL-AMERICAN XIX: No Small Thing Desire

Willa Cather once wrote, “The world is little, people are little, human life is little. There is only one big thing – desire.” Using her insight as a point of departure, Bruce Weber has devoted this nineteenth edition of the “All-American” journal series to individuals whose creativity, fearlessness or endurance in the face of adversity exemplify some shared human impulse for expression, for freedom, for life. Artists light the way in this latest edition. Nova Stanley, a junior at LaGuardia in New York City, illustrates her family with a practiced, youthful swagger. The sculptor Sheila Hicks shares a lifetime’s worth of wisdom picked up while working and weaving in every corner of the globe. Jamie Wyeth, accomplished heir to his family’s painting tradition, welcomes our readers into his Maine studio. And one of the all-time great art world love stories is captured in a photo-essay devoted to Rachel Feinstein and John Currin. Bruce Weber shares photography duties in this issue with Consuelo Kanaga, a lesser-known contemporary of Weston, Lange and Stieglitz whose work reflects her deep commitment to social justice—and with John Dugdale, who employs 19th century photography techniques in a practice informed by his experience with and survival of the AIDS crisis. We are also honored to present portraits and a testimonial by Auschwitz survivor Magda Bader. All-American XIX: No Small Thing, Desire features texts by Lucille Clifton, William Carpenter, Rachel Carson and Joni Mitchell.