At the end of the Seventies, Lewis Baltz (b. 1945, Newport Beach, California; lives in Paris) was one of the founders of the influential 'New Topography' movement, which introduced a contrary aesthetic into photography with its noncommittal views of desolate landscapes and forgotten places. Classic publications of his work include 'The New Industrial Parks Near Irvine, California' (1974), 'Nevada' (1978), 'Park City' (1980), 'San Quentin Point' (1986), 'Rule Without Exception' (1990), 'The Deaths of Newport Beach' (1997) and 'The Politics of Bacteria' (1998). Solo exhibitions of his work were held all over the world, at such venues as the Galerie Leo Castelli (1971-1989), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1981), Victoria and Albert Museum, London (1985), Centre Pompidou, Paris (1992), Fotomuseum Winterthur (1993), Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humelbaek, Denmark (1995), Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (1998) and Princeton University Art Museum (2003).