Vivid, clear-sighted images of American vernacular signage and architecture encountered along old US highways showcase the early black-and-white work of the acclaimed photographer Jim Dow

The American photographer Jim Dow (b. 1942) is renowned for photographs that depict the built environment—he first gained attention for his panoramic triptychs of baseball stadiums—and for his skill at conveying the "human ingenuity and spirit" that suffuse the spaces. This book is the first to focus on Dow's early black-and-white pictures, featuring more than 60 photographs made between 1967 and 1977, a majority of which have never before been published. Indebted to the work of Walker Evans, a key mentor of Dow's, these photographs depict time-worn signage taken from billboards, diners, gas stations, drive-ins, and other small businesses. While still recognizable as icons of commercial Americana, without their context Dow's signs impart ambiguous messages, often situated between documentation and abstraction. Including a new essay by Dow that reveals his own perspective on the development of the work, Signs suggests how these formative years honed the artist's sensibility and conceptual approach.

知名摄影师吉姆·道（Jim Dow）在美国早期公路上拍摄了生动清晰的美国本土标志和建筑图片，展示了他早期的黑白作品。

美国摄影师吉姆·道（生于1942年）以描绘建筑环境的照片而闻名，他最初因其对棒球场的全景三联画而受到关注，并因其善于传达弥漫于这些空间的“人类智慧和精神”而闻名。本书是**本专注于道的早期黑白照片的书，收录了60多张1967年至1977年期间拍摄的照片，其中大部分以前从未出版过。这些照片得益于道的重要导师沃克·埃文斯（Walker Evans）的作品，描绘了从广告牌、食堂、加油站、汽车旅馆和其他小企业拍摄的久违的标牌。虽然仍然可以作为美国商业的标志来识别，但在没有背景的情况下，道的标志传递了模糊的信息，往往位于文件和抽象之间。本书包括一篇由道撰写的新文章，揭示了他自己对作品发展的看法，表明这些成长岁月如何磨练了他的感受力和概念性方法。