Birds Of The West Indies (Bond Girls Book)

By: Anders Frejdh

Published:
2013-11-04

James Bond Birds of the West Indies 2013

Publication of Birds of the West Indies, a new book with newly taken photos of 56 James Bond girls (FSWL got the full list, see below). The book is written by Daniel Baumann and published by Hatje Cantz. Order it from Amazon.

In 1936, an ornithologist called James Bond released the definitive taxonomy of birds found in the Caribbean, titled Birds of the West Indies. Ian Fleming, an active bird watcher living in Jamaica, subsequently appropriated the name for his novel’s lead character. He found it to be perfectly “ordinary”, “brief”, “Anglo-Saxon” and “masculine”. This co-opting of names was the first replacement in a series of substitutions that would become central to the construction of the Bond narrative.

In a meticulous and comprehensive dissection of the Bond films, artist Taryn Simon inventoried women, weapons and vehicles in Bond. The contents of these categories function as essential accessories to the narrative’s myth of the seductive, powerful, and invincible western male. In Birds of the West Indies, Simon presents a visual database of interchangeable variables used in the production of fantasy, through which she examines the economic and emotional value generated by their repetition.

Exhibition schedule: 2013 Carnegie International, Pittsburgh October 5, 2013–March 16, 2014

Editor's note:
56 women who appeared in the James Bond films series is photographed in the book. FSWL has got the full list:

Akiko Wakabayashi, Barbara Bach, Barbara Carrera, Bérénice Marlohe, Britt Ekland, Carey Lowell, Carole Bouquet, Caroline Bliss, Caroline Munro, Caterina Murino, Catherine Schell, Claudine Auger, Corinne Cléry, Daniela Bianchi, Denise Richards, Diana Rigg, Eunice Gayson, Eva Green, Famke Janssen, Fiona Fullerton, Gemma Arterton, Gloria Hendry, Grace Jones, Halle Berry, Honor Blackman, Izabella Scorupco, Jane Seymour, Jill St. John, Karin Dor, Kim Basinger, Kristina Wayborn, Lana Wood, Lois Chiles, Luciana Paluzzi, Lynn-Holly Johnson, Madeline Smith, Martine Beswicke, Maryam d’Abo, Maud Adams, Michelle Yeoh, Mie Hama, Mollie Peters, Naomie Harris, Nikki van der Zyl, Olga Kurylenko, Rosamund Pike, Samantha Bond, Shirley Eaton, Sophie Marceau, Talisa Soto, Tania Mallet, Tanya Roberts, Teri Hatcher, Tsai Chin, Ursula Andress and Valerie Leon.

Previous books featuring 'Bond Girls' include James Bond Girls (by Graham Rye, Boxtree Ltd, 1995, 1997, 1999), The Bond Women: 007 Style (by Tim Greaves, 1-Shot Publications, 2002), Bond Girls Are Forever (by John Cork and Maryam d'Abo, Boxtree Ltd, 2003), and Bond Girls (by Alastair Dougall, Dorling Kindersley, 2010).

Book details:
Hardcover: 440 pages
Publisher: Hatje Cantz
Language: English
ISBN-10: 3775736638
ISBN-13: 978-3775736633
Dimensions: 11.6 x 8 x 2 inches
Shipping Weight: 5.4 pounds

About the author:
Taryn Simon was born in New York in 1975. She is a graduate of Brown University and a Guggenheim Fellow. Her photographs and writing have been the subject of solo exhibitions at institutions including The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2012), Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2012); Tate Modern, London (2011); Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2011); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2007) and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York (2003). In 2011 her work was included in the 54th Venice Biennale.

Photo above:
Hardback cover for Birds of the West Indies. © 2013 Hatje Cantz. All rights reserved.

Order Birds of the West Indies featuring James Bond girls from Amazon:

www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/3775736638/fromswedenwit-20/

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