A broken piano, a dilapidated staircase, a chair half standing on two bent legs surrounded by layers of history peeling from the wallpaper of an abandoned house. The chilling air of an abandoned church, or a desolated factory, with the faint signs of the human sounds now trapped in the detritus of lost interiors. In Michigan, in Italy, in Russia, Japan, in China, the lost dreams of a teaming human horde are captured in this evocative exploration of abandoned buildings, the achievements of humankind struck down by calamity or neglect, then over-run by the ancient forces of time and nature, as the planet earth moves slowly to regain its supremacy against the noisy, mechanical clatter of the human species. The incredible new book explores the half-life of abandoned buildings and the sad beauty of desolation. AUTHOR: Julian Beecroft McCormack is a freelance writer and editor specialising in the arts. He has written extensively on the Canadian artists Tom Thomson, Emily Carr and the Group of Seven for Dulwich Picture Gallery in London and the Groninger Museum in Groningen, The Netherlands, as well as for The Guardian, The London Magazine and other publications. Previously, he has written on classical music for Flame Tree Publishing. He is currently writing a book on the art, culture and history of Canada.
150 illustrations