An Eye for Beauty

Publishers Weekly

Lauder has twin careers in beauty: as an executive at the Estie Lauder Companies she hawks cosmetics, but as a well-regarded photographer, she concentrates on the beauty of her physical surroundings. This volume, a follow-up to her successful The Seasons Observed, includes lively images of a Chilean sand dune, a field of French poppies and a sunset in Myanmar. While it's true that many of these pictures don't reflect the sophistication-either technological or visual-of a gifted photographer, they often display the grace and vision of an artistic spirit. Captured by Lauder, a pond in New York contains the changing depth of an expressionist painting, and the translucent leaves of a palm tree shimmer with light. At worst, the work is pretty but boring-like a slide show of someone else's vacation-but at its best, it is somehow calming and exhilarating at the same time. Royalties from sales will be donated to the Break Cancer Research Foundation; 50 full color photographs. (Oct.) Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.