Atlantic Wall Stephan Vanfleteren FR / ENG

Hardcover, 19,5 x 28 cm, 200 pages Edition bilingue francais-anglais ISBN 9789492081841. Un Mur de l'Atlantique en perdition face a l'objectif de Stephan Vanfleteren Pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, Adolf Hitler avait donne l?ordre d?elever une ligne de defense le long des cotes du front occidental. Reliant la frontiere franco-espagnole au nord de la Norvege, ce mur etait constitue d?une succession de bunkers, d?obstacles et de batteries cotieres. Pendant un an, le photographe Stephan Vanfleteren a parcouru ce long ? mur ? de plus de 2.600 kilometres et en immortalise les bunkers dans son style bien connu. Il a pose son pied sur les plages de Belgique, des Pays-Bas et d?Allemagne, escalade les falaises francaises, navigue entre les fjords norvegiens et affronte la maree au Danemark pour saisir en noir et blanc les vestiges du plus grand ouvrage militaire du siecle passe. Stephan Vanfleteren illustre a travers cette etonnante serie son admiration pour la beaute architectonique involontaire de ces constructions en beton et porte son regard sur les forces de la nature, qui, lentement mais surement, grignotent cet ensemble juge infranchissable. ENGLISH The crumbling Atlantic Wall through the inquisitive eyes of photographer Stephan Vanfleteren During World War II, Adolf Hitler gave the order for a line of defense to be constructed along the coasts of the western front. Ranging from the French-Spanish border to the north of Norway, this Atlantic Wall is a series of bunkers, barricades and coastal batteries. Over the past year Stephan Vanfleteren photographed this 'wall' of more than 2600 kilometres in his well-known black-and-white style. He planted his tripod on various beaches in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, climbed cliff faces in France, sailed between the fjords of Norway and stood in the surf in Denmark to photograph the ruins of the largest military structure of the previous century. Vanfleteren shows with this series of photos his wonder for the untamed architectural beauty of these concrete structures and he shows the power of nature as it slowly reclaims these structures that were once considered impenetrable.