72 pages; October 2019, bilingual edition (English/French), only available through the publisher.

Pre-order offer: $25.00 (regular price $28.00)
High-quality paperback printed on 80 lb paper.

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ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER

JONATHAN SA'ADAH was born in 1950, two years after his family immigrated to the United States, landing in the small uphill Vermont community of Woodstock. By the age of 16 he had learned the overall outline, if not the mastery, of what it meant to be a photographer.

He studied art history and photography at Dartmouth College (1968-1972), and at MIT with Minor White. After completing his formal education he worked as a photographer, selling prints to collections and individuals. He received a Reynolds Fellowship in 1975 which he spent in Paris working with film director Joseph Losey. On returning to the United States, he began receiving larger professional assignments, and in 1981 founded a communications firm in Vermont with his wife, a graphic designer. The couple moved to Montreal in 2005.

Jonathan Sa'adah’s main interests as a photographer have been portraiture, street photography, and pictures of social change. You can find more of his work online at jonzphoto.com

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GILDAS BERTHELOT is a French-born sculptor living in Montreal.

ELIZABETH ADAMS (preface and interviews) is a writer, publisher, graphic designer and artist. 

​The Creative Spirit: Gildas Berthelot, Sculptor
Le processus créatif : Gildas Berthelot, sculpteur
​by/par Jonathan Sa'adah
black & white photographs, bilingual text (French / English)
photographies noir et blanc, texte bilingue (français / anglais)

Jonathan Sa'adah's photographic career has spanned more than five decades, during which a complete revolution has taken place in photographic methods and techniques. While today he embraces digital photography and is an expert in the most contemporary, high-tech methods of photographic reproduction and printing, his early years were spent not only in darkrooms, perfecting the making of photographic prints by hand, but in learning traditional processes such as gum-bichromate and paladium printing. His patient dedication resulted in mastery of his craft, but his work has always been informed by his artist's eye and his deep sensitivity to the people and situations he photographs.

It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that he was drawn to the work of Gildas Berthelot, which combines long experience in traditional furniture-making with a uniquely modern aesthetic, and innovative sculptural techniques. As an artist and craftsman himself, Sa'adah appreciated the intense, physically-demanding, and astounding transformation of flat planks of wood into fantastic forms that he observed in his neighbor's sculpture studio. As a documentary photographer with a lifelong interest in portraiture, art, and the creative process, he undertook the creation of the series of photographs which are presented in this book, and were part of a joint exhibition with Gildas Berthelot in Montreal in September, 2019. The accompanying interviews with both photographer and sculptor further illuminate their approaches and their work for the rest of us, who can be inspired by the creative spirits of both of these remarkable artists.

​La carrière photographique de Jonathan Sa'adah a duré plus de cinq décennies, au cours desquelles une révolution complète a eu lieu dans les méthodes et techniques photographiques. Bien qu’aujourd’hui, il s’intéresse à la photographie numérique et soit un expert des méthodes de reproduction et d’impression photographiques les plus modernes et les plus sophistiquées, ses premières années ont été consacrées non seulement à la chambre noire, perfectionnant la fabrication à la main de tirages photographiques, mais également à l’apprentissage de procédés traditionnels tels que comme gomme-bichromate et impression au paladium. Son dévouement patient a abouti à la maîtrise de son art, mais son travail a toujours été guidé par son œil d'artiste et par sa profonde sensibilité aux personnes et aux situations qu'il photographie.
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Il n’est peut-être pas surprenant qu’il ait été attiré par l’œuvre de Gildas Berthelot, qui allie une longue expérience de la fabrication de meubles traditionnels à une esthétique unique de la modernité et à des techniques de sculpture novatrices. En tant qu'artiste et artisan, Sa'adah a apprécié la transformation intense, physiquement exigeant et époustouflant de planches de bois plates en formes fantastiques qu'il a observées dans l'atelier de sculpture de son voisin. Photographe documentaire passionné depuis toujours par le portrait, l'art et le processus de création, il a décidé de créer la série de photographies présentée dans ce livre. Il faisait partie d'une exposition conjointe avec Gildas Berthelot à Montréal en septembre 2019. Les entretiens qui les accompagnent, tant le photographe que le sculpteur, éclairent davantage leur approche et leur travail pour le reste d'entre nous, qui pouvons être inspirés par l'esprit créatif de ces deux artistes remarquables.