Barragán a Spiritual Master

Robert Duncan was introduced to photography as a child. His interest began to grow while he was a student at Northwestern University. Later, he fit the pursuit around the edges of his travels for pleasure and for Duncan Aviation business. With the additional time retirement has offered, Robert's enthusiasm has mushroomed. He has amassed over 100,000 images. Robert's interest in photography parallels and, in fact, is integral to his passion for collecting art. He loves the discovery of a visual surprise and is compelled to acquire it. He photographs intuitively, yet, a perusal of his images shows that he responds to unusual plays of light, whether shadows, surface washes, reflections or atmospheric ambience. It is no wonder, then, that the opportunity to tour several Mexico City sites designed by Pritzker Prize winner, Luis Barragán, was like Christmas morning for the Nebraskan. This book was an outcome of that experience. Robert took the images at Cuadra San Cristóbal, an equestrian estate Barragán designed for a friend and fellow horseman, and at Casa Gilardi, a home conceived as a bachelor pad for young partners in an advertising agency. The 20th century architect's projects are quiet and contemplative, yet they confound visual perceptions. Robert's images reflect his own aptitude for seeing and building on Barragán's compositional conundrums.Artist Merrill Peterson recognized Robert's adroitness as soon as he looked at the Barragán photos and collaborated with Robert on the book. They are images of beautiful sites, but they are also studies of crisp geometric shapes, pitch-perfect linear compositions, washes of blindingly radiant light, rhyming forms and transcendent color. These images tickle our longing for a balance of order and spontaneity, human connection and solitude, seriousness and quirkiness, simplicity and complexity, dynamism and stillness. Robert wishes for these images to be a gift to those who delight in the pursuit of interminable visual possibilities.