Picture
72 pages; October 2019, bilingual edition (English/French), only available through the publisher.
$25.00 (regular price $28.00)
High-quality paperback printed on 80 lb paper.

Please choose destination:
ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER
Picture
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
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 October, 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 de photographe de Jonathan Sa’adah s’étale sur plus de cinq décennies, une période durant laquelle les méthodes et techniques photographiques ont connu une véritable révolution. Bien qu’il se consacre aujourd’hui à la photographie numérique et qu’il soit devenu un expert dans les méthodes de reproduction et d’impression les plus modernes, il a passé ses premières années de travail dans les chambres noires à perfectionner la fabrication de tirages photographiques à la main, en plus de faire l’apprentissage de procédés traditionnels tels que la gomme bichromatée et le tirage au palladium. Son dévouement patient l’a mené vers une grande maîtrise de sa pratique, mais son travail a toujours été guidé par son œil d’artiste et sa profonde sensibilité envers les personnes et les situations qu’il photographie.
 
Il n’est donc pas étonnant qu’il ait été attiré par l’œuvre de Gildas Berthelot, qui allie une longue expérience dans la fabrication de meubles traditionnels à une esthétique moderne unique et à des techniques de sculpture novatrices. Sa’adah, lui-même à la fois artiste et artisan, a su apprécier le processus intense et physiquement exigeant qu’il a observé dans l’atelier de son voisin alors que celui-ci s’affairait à la transformation époustouflante de planches de bois plates en des formes fantastiques. Le photographe documentaire captivé depuis des années par le portrait, l’art et le processus de création a donc décidé de créer la série d’images présentée dans ce livre, série qui a fait l’objet d’une exposition conjointe avec Gildas Berthelot à Montréal en octobre 2019. Les entretiens avec le sculpteur et le photographe inclus dans cet ouvrage éclairent davantage leur œuvre et leurs démarches, permettant à tous de s’inspirer de l’esprit créatif de ces deux artistes remarquables.