Rock legend Patti Smith is famed for her powerful onstage presence, depicted by many of photography’s own legends. Robert Mapplethorpe’s portraits of the young poet/singer were instrumental in defining her groundbreaking persona in 1970s. Still tough and uncompromising, Smith has more recently been captured by Annie Leibovitz. Joining that lineage is this volume of portraits by Italian photographer and painter Fabio Torre, featuring 70 black-and-white images taken of Smith during her concerts from the 1990s to the present. Torre has captured Smith passionately immersed in performance, and she is revealed to us here more intimately than we have seen her before. Different than the Patti Smith we remember from previous portraits, in these dynamic chiaroscuro images Torre projects a new Patti persona, capturing the lifetime of experience revealed by her gestures.

From Damiani (September, 2009). Edited by Eleonora Pasqui, with texts in English and Italian by Fernanda Pivano, John Rockwell, and Claudio Marra; translated by David Smith and Chiara Scardoni. (Hardcover, 96 pages, 60 illustrations, 12.5 x 9 inches). Contact gallery for price.