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Photo Book Reviews

Wise Women (Bulfinch Press) by Joyce Tenneson Reviewed by Nicole Tourtelot Article rating: 6.80

"Changing the consciousness of how our culture sees aging women is one of the final frontiers we need to confront."   —Joyce Tenneson

Joyce Tenneson's new book Wise Women is a celebration of the power and beauty of women in the third phase of their lives. The author and photographer interviewed 300 women from all over the country, whose ages ranged from sixty-five to one hundred-and-one.

From Supreme Court Justice to Academy Award winning actress, to less acknowledged women whose experiences have brought them equal insight, Tenneson's subjects reveal a tremendous inner strength that they attribute to a gift of their maturity. Through her endearing and compelling portraits of these incredible women, Tenneson challenges and dispels the typically negative perception of aging.

She reveals the inner and outer beauty of older women whose energy, vitality, and wisdom are an inspiration. "Many of us are living out the unlived lives of our mothers, because they were not able to become the unique people they were born to be" says Gloria Steinem, 67.

The women depicted in these pages feel they are in the best phase of their lives, and that age has enhanced, not hindered them. Through photographs and interviews, Tenneson illuminates a refusal to conform to society's frequent suggestions that a woman devalues with age.

Zelda Kaplan, 85, appears in distinguished profile with an enormous yet impossibly elegant hat. "I used to dance a lot," she says "but unfortunately all my partners are dead. Now I travel to remote villages around the world where women weave their own cloth. I design all of my own clothes and try to keep the integrity of the cloth. I like hats. This one makes me feel like I'm a mythic priest who brings joy and love to the people around her."

Another of Tenneson's subjects, Krista, is the survivor of a radical mastectomy. She insisted that she be photographed partially nude so that people would see that a mastectomy "doesn't look so bad" and know that she still feels beautiful.

These women have traveled through many phases of life and have sustained themselves and the people they love. They are eager to explain how they have earned their profound understanding and inner peace.

101-year-old Clara Holm stares at the camera with knowing irreverence. "A sage knows there is both the wisdom of the universe and of man," she says, "and finds a balance between the two." Owning their ages with the wisdom that comes through endurance, Tenneson's subjects speak in the poetry and philosophy of mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers.

Joyce Tenneson's work has appeared in The New York Times, Premiere, Fortune, and Time, among many other distinguished publications. She is a respected teacher and lecturer all over the country, and has had her work displayed in more than 150 exhibits. The author of six books, she lives and works in New York City.

>>Click here to purchase Wise Women form Bulfinch Press...

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