ESSAYS
& CRITICISM
The books
in this section are critical writings on photography, the photographic
book and collecting by individual artists, photographers, critics and
curators.
The books
are available through our association with Amazon.com If you are interested
in a book that is not available through Amazon.com, we most likely have
an alternative source or a copy in our collection that you may inquire
about.
NOTE: The prices of the books listed on this web site are the publishers
list prices. Most books are available at significantly
less than the posted list price.
The listings
are alphabetical by the author's last name.
A
B C D E F G H
I J K L M N O P Q
R S T U V W X Y Z
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Collecting
Photography,
Gerry Badger
2003, Mitchell Beazley
11.33" x 9.76", 200 pgs.
List price: $39.95 |
"More
people today are collecting photographs than ever before. Photography
is a complex collecting area, however, with many potential pitfalls
for newcomers to the field. This indispensable introduction provides
novice and experienced collectors with the information they need
to buy and invest successfully. It explains the different types
of photographs available on the market, provides information on
conserving photographs, includes a full glossary of technical terms,
and lists, with market notes, the top 250 collectible photographers.
Beautifully illustrated with color and duotone illustrations." |
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The
Photobook: A History, Volume I,
Martin Parr and Gerry Badger
2004, Phaidon Press
10: 11.5", 320 pp
List price: $75.00 |
While the history of photography is a well-established
canon, much less critical attention has been directed at the phenomenon
of the photobook, which for many photographers is perhaps the most
significant vehicle for the display of their work and the communication
of their vision to a mass audience. In the first of two volumes,
both co-edited by Martin Parr and Gerry Badger, The Photobook
provides a comprehensive overview of the development of the photobook,
from its inception at the dawn of photography in the early nineteenth
century through to the radical Japanese photobooks of the 1960s
and 70s, by way of the modernist and propaganda books of the 1930s
and 40s.
Read more about this book |
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The
Photobook: A History, Volume II,
Martin Parr and Gerry Badger
2006, Phaidon Press
10: 11.5", 320 pp
List price: $75.00 |
Following on from the success of the first volume,
The Photobook: A History volume II brings the story of the Photobook
fully up to date. It features publications by many well-known photographers
ranging from Man Ray, Ed Ruscha and Andy Warhol to Christian Boltanski,
Stephen Shore and Sophie Calle by way of Bernd and Hilla Becher,
Andreas Gursky and Lewis Baltz. Several innovative books by unknown
photographers are also included, offering an opportunity to discover
these overlooked works.
Read more about this
book |
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Camera
Lucida, Reflections on Photography,
Roland
Barthes
1982, Noonday Press
8.2" x 5.5", 119 pp.
List price: $12.00
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"This
personal, wide-ranging, and contemplative volume--and the last book
Barthes published--finds the author applying his influential perceptiveness
and associative insight to the subject of photography. To this end,
several black-and-white photos (by the likes of Avedon, Clifford,
Hine, Mapplethorpe, Nadar, Van Der Zee, and so forth) are reprinted
throughout the text." |
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The
Mind's Eye: Writings on Photography and Photographers,
Henri Cartier-Bresson
1999, Aperture
8.56" x 5.78", 112 pgs.
List price: $19.95 |
"One
of the leading lights in photography of the twentieth century, Henri
Cartier-Bresson is also a shrewd observer and critic. His writings
on photography and photographers, which have appeared sporadically
over the past forty-five years, are gathered here for the first
time. Several have never before appeared in English. The Mind's
Eye features Cartier-Bresson's famous text on "the decisive
moment" as well as his observations on Moscow, Cuba, and China
during turbulent times, which ring with the same immediacy and visual
intensity that he brings to his photography. Now ninety years old,
Cartier-Bresson remains as direct and insightful as ever in his
writings." |
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Book
as artwork, 1960-72,
Germano Celant
1972,
Nigel Green
8.25" x 6", 47 pgs.
(inquire
about availability) |
Essay about
"Book as Artwork" and catalogue of books as art. |
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On
the Art of Fixing a Shadow: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Photography,
Sarah Geeenough, et al.
1991, Bulfinch
9.75" x 12", 432 pp.
(out of print, used copies available) |
This survey
of photography from 1839 through 1989 includes color and duotone
illustrations as well as essays by curators of the major exhibition
that accompanied the hardcover edition's release. Creative uses
of the camera and photography as a viable art form are discussed.
- Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. |
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Book
of 101 Books, The: Seminal Photographic Books of the Twentieth Century
2001, Roth Horowitz LLC
11.98" x 9.94" , 320 pgs.
List price: $85.00 |
"The
history of the photographic book goes back well more than a century;
the medium of photography and the book format were understood very
early on to relate to each other on both technical and aesthetic
levels. The examples of truly great combinations of photographic
image and text, great design and typography bound together as books
are numerous, and make up an impressive artistic, social, and documentary
statement of the 20th century. Writer and rare book expert Andrew
Roth has selected for this volume a group of 101 of the best photography
books ever published: books that bring all of the elements of great
bookmaking together to create, ultimately, a thing of beauty, a
work of art. Mostly made up of publications in which the photographs
were meant to be seen in book form, as opposed to the book being
merely a repository of images, this list includes many artists and
titles that will be familiar to the collector, but also not a few
surprises. ..." |
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On
Being a Photographer
David Hurn and Bill Jay
2003, LensWork
List price: $12.95 |
Revised Third Edition
A collaboration of longtime friends, On Being organizes
an on-going discussion between Magnum photographer Hurn and noted
critic Jay about the various aspects of the photographer's life.
Their wide ranging discussions explore such perennial issues as
titles (i.e. photographer vs photojournalist), photographers and
the "fine print," selecting a subject, and editing. |
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History
of Photography,
Beaumont Newhall
1982, Little Brown & Co
11" x 8.25", 320 pp.
(used copies available) |
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The
Histroy of the Photobook, Volume I,
Martin Parr and Gerry Badger
2004, Phaidon Press
10: 11.5", 320 pp
List price: $75.00 |
While the history of photography is a well-established
canon, much less critical attention has been directed at the phenomenon
of the photobook, which for many photographers is perhaps the most
significant vehicle for the display of their work and the communication
of their vision to a mass audience. In the first of two volumes,
both co-edited by Martin Parr and Gerry Badger, The Photobook
provides a comprehensive overview of the development of the photobook,
from its inception at the dawn of photography in the early nineteenth
century through to the radical Japanese photobooks of the 1960s
and 70s, by way of the modernist and propaganda books of the 1930s
and 40s.
Read more about this book |
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A
World History of Photography,
Naomi Rosenblum
1997, Abberville Press
11.6 x 8.78, 696 pgs.
List price: $65.00 |
"A
World History of Photography encompasses the entire range of
the medium, from the camera lucida to the latest computer technology,
and from Europe and the Americas to the Far East. It investigates
all aspects of photography - aesthetic, documentary, commercial,
and technical - while placing it in historical context. Included
among the more than 800 photographs by men and women are both little-known
and celebrated masterpieces, arranged in stimulating juxtapositions
that illuminate their visual power. Dr. Rosenblum's chronicle of
photography is authoritative and unbiased, tracing both chronologically
and thematically the evolution of this young art. Exploring the
diverse roles that photography has played in the communication of
ideas, Dr. Rosenblum devotes special attention to topics such as
portraiture, documentation, advertising, and photojournalism, and
to the camera as a medium of personal artistic expression. Profiles
are provided of individual photographers who made notable contributions
to the medium or epitomized a certain style." |
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Unclassified
- A Wlaker Evans Anthology,
Jeff L. Rosenheim, et al.
2000, Scalo Verlag
10.36" x 8.18", 280 pgs.
List price: $39.95 |
"Walker
Evans, one of the 20th century's most important photographers,
was also a talented and prolific writer. Unclassified: A Walker
Evans Anthology collects much of the writing that Evans authored
in his lifetime and bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art
upon his death. The primarily previously unpublished short stories,
poems, criticism--mostly of photography--translations of French
literature by the likes of Baudelaire, Cocteau, and Gide, and
personal letters offer insight into Evans's aesthetic, cultural,
and artistic concerns." |
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River
of Shadows: Edweard Muybridge and the Technological West,
Rebecca Solnit
2003, Viking Press
9.3" x 6.31", 305 pgs.
List price: $25.95 |
"The
world as we know it today began in California in the late 1800s,
and Eadweard Muybridge had a lot to do with it. This striking assertion
is at the heart of Rebecca Solnit’s new book, which weaves
together biography, history, and fascinating insights into art and
technology to create a boldly original portrait of America on the
threshold of modernity. The story of Muybridge—who in 1872
succeeded in capturing high-speed motion photographically—becomes
a lens for a larger story about the acceleration and industrialization
of everyday life. Solnit shows how the peculiar freedoms and opportunities
of post–Civil War California led directly to the two industries—Hollywood
and Silicon Valley—that have most powerfully defined contemporary
society." |
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On
Photography,
Susan Sontag
2001, Picador USA
8.25" x 5.5", 224 pp.
List price: $13.00 (softbound) |
"One
of the most highly regarded books of its kind, On Photography
first appeared in 1977 and is described by its author as “a
progress of essays about the meaning and career of photographs.”
It begins with the famous “In Plato’s Cave”essay,
then offers five other prose meditations on this topic, and concludes
with a fascinating and far-reaching “Brief Anthology of Quotations.”
" |
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Looking
At Photographs,
John Szarkowski
1999, Bulfinch
11.06" x 8.97", 216 pgs.
List price: $37.50 |
"Originally
published in 1973, this 1999 reissue, with new duotone separations
using the latest technology, brings this remarkable book back
to a new generation.
"This
is a picture book, and its first purpose is to provide the material
for simple delectation," says author John Szarkowski in his
Introduction to the first survey of The Museum of Modern Art's
Photography Collection. A visually splendid album, Looking at
Photographs is not only a treasury of "benchmark photographs,"
but also an introduction to the aesthetics and the historical
development of photography. ..." |
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