Product Description
Making a vital contribution to the understanding of Latin American modernism, Esther Gabara rethinks the role of photography in the Brazilian and Mexican avant-garde movements of the 1920s and 1930s. During these decades, intellectuals in Mexico and Brazil were deeply engaged with photography. Authors who are now canonical figures in the two countries' literary traditions looked at modern life through the camera in a variety of ways. Mário de Andrade, known as the "pope" of Brazilian modernism, took and collected hundreds of photographs. Salvador Novo, a major Mexican writer, meditated on the medium's aesthetic potential as "the prodigal daughter of the fine arts." Intellectuals acted as tourists and ethnographers, and their images and texts circulated in popular mass media, sharing the page with photographs of the New Woman. In this richly illustrated study, Gabara introduces the concept of a modernist "ethos" to illuminate the intertwining of aesthetic innovation and ethical concerns in the work of leading Brazilian and Mexican literary figures. These writers were also photographers, art critics, and contributors to illustrated magazines during the 1920s and 1930s.

Gabara argues that Brazilian and Mexican modernists deliberately made photography err: they made this privileged medium of modern representation simultaneously wander and work against its apparent perfection. They flouted the conventions of mainstream modernism so that their aesthetics registered an ethical dimension. Their photographic modernism strayed, dragging along the baggage of modernity lived in a postcolonial site. Through their "errant modernism," avant-garde writers critiqued the colonial history of Latin America and its twentieth-century formations. ... Read more

Product Description
In a set of forty-three pen & ink line drawings, Charles Woodard levels the history of photography through his own unique brand of stylistic primitivism. Originally produced as study aids for a 19th and 20th century history of photography survey course, these comical (and sometimes tragic) ball-pen ink drawings seamlessly bring together photographers as stylistically disparate as Robert Capa and Ed Ruscha. By shifting these crude renderings into the context of the book format, Woodard asks us to consider not only the humorous aspect of these flash cards, but also the reductive nature of image recall and how that relates to our more profound engagement with the world through memory. ... Read more

Product Description
In 'staged' photography the artist takes on the role of a director, creating or staging an image. He or she uses models, props, costumes or lighting, often creating a theatrical quality. This beautifully produced book traces the history of the staged photograph, focusing on such key themes as the artist as actor, art historical imagery, and narratives and allegories. It includes engaging essays on Victorian tableaux vivants,Surrealism, and iconic photographs from the 1930s and 1940s previously thought to be documentary images but that were in fact staged. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Gorgeous book
I find this book to be inspiring and creatively useful on top of it just being gorgeous!If you have any interest in photography, film or narrative image making you need to get this book.

Deserves a spot in an authoritative art library collection as well as many a film library holding
ACTING THE PART: PHOTOGRAPHY AS THEATRE could also have been featured in our 'Film and Stage' section, but is reviewed here for its fine history of staged photography as a genre. A sampling of such works range from the 1840s to modern times and pairs film stills and artwork with essays by Lori Pauli and others on the use of painting as inspiration, Surrealism and plays, narrative strategies and photographic effects, and more. As the first major history of staged photography, it deserves a spot in an authoritative art library collection as well as many a film library holding.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
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Product Description

Photography: A Critical Introduction was the first introductory textbook to examine key debates in photographic theory and place them in their social and political contexts, and is now established as one of the leading textbooks in its field. Written especially for students in further and higher education and for introductory college courses, this fully revised edition provides a coherent introduction to the nature of photographic seeing.

This revised and updated fourth edition includes:

• key concepts, biographies of major thinkers, seminal references
• a full glossary of terms, comprehensive bibliography and new chapter abstracts
• updated resource information, including guides to public archives and useful websites.

Individual chapters cover:

• key debates in photographic theory and history
• documentary photography and photojournalism
• personal and popular photography
• photography and commodity culture
• photography and the human body
• photography as art
• photography in the age of electronic imaging.

This lavishly illustrated fourth edition includes over 100 photographs and images, of huge diversity, in full colour throughout, featuring work from Bill Brandt, Susan Derges, Rineke Dijkstra, Lee Friedlander, Fran Herbello, Hannah Höch, Karen Knorr, Dorothea Lange, Chrystal Lebas, Lee Miller, Martin Parr, Ingrid Pollard, Jacob Riis, Alexander Rodchenko, Andres Serrano and Jeff Wall.

Customer Reviews (8)

Intro to photographic theory, postmodernist orientation, wish it were better
There's a reason why people say this book reads like a textbook: it _is_ a textbook.As stated in the blurb on the back cover, it a college-level introduction to photographic theory.The theory in question is not that of optics or photochemical reactions or analog-to-digital conversions. Rather, it is the Theory with a capital T of academic postmodernism - "pomo" - the same Theory that presents itself in Film Theory and Literary Theory and the all-encompassing Cultural Theory.

You may have encountered postmodernism in school or in your personal reading.If you did, you will have some idea of what you will find in this book.If not, don't worry about it.The New York Times photography critic Andy Grundberg declared the death of postmodernism in 1990, film theoreticians David Bordwell and Noel Carroll followed suit in their book Post-Theory in 1996, and A-list literary critic Fredric Jameson drove the final nail into the coffin in a New York Times article in 2003. Postmodernism, as the dominant academic fashion, is a thing of the past.It was on its last legs when this book was originally written and it is now definitely over.As such it's not something that you should feel you need to invest in, just make enough sense of to follow what the book is saying.

Though only one name, Liz Wells, appears on the cover, the book is actually the work of six authors, each of whom, including Wells, contributed a chapter or two.All the authors appear to be English and all are (or were at the time of writing) affiliated with British regional universities.The book was originally published in 1996.The third edition, reviewed here, was published in 2003.

The book contains seven chapters, an overview chapter and six chapters on individual topics.The chapters present surveys of articles and books (especially British ones) written on the topics, with lots of quotes from academics and relatively few from practicing photographers.There are bibliographical and other notes in the wide margins of the main text but, rather surprisingly for an introductory textbook, no annotated bibliography or "Further Reading" sections either at the ends of the individual chapters or at the end of the book.Several chapters include one or more case studies, which amount to extended sidebars purporting to demonstrate the application of the theory under discussion to specific photographs or photographic genres.

Based on a single quick read I would say that the quality of the chapters is uneven, ranging from pretty good through OK down to questionable.One or two of the case studies were interesting but most seemed to contribute little if anything to the book.Here, for what they are worth, are my impressions of the chapters (my headings; actual titles can be seen in the Amazon "Look inside this book" pages):

Ch. 1 Overview by Derrick Price and Liz Wells - unstructured, rambling, surprisingly poor; I would recommend skipping over it on the first read and going directly to the topical chapters. However the case study on Dorothea Lange's iconic Migrant Mother is the best in the book and should be looked at even if the rest of the chapter is skipped.

Ch. 2 Photojournalism by Derrick Price - one of the best in the book, very clear, well connected to the history of (British) photography, interesting.

Ch. 3 Personal photography by Patricia Holland - pretty good, genuinely thought-provoking at times, for example in its discussion of the tension between the idealized representation of domestic life in family albums and the often less than ideal realities hiding behind (and occasionally peaking through) the pictures.

Ch. 4 Photography of the human body by Michelle Henning - attempts to present a feminist perspective but tends to get stuck in the rhetoric and not reveal much about the actual work being talked about.

Ch. 5 Advertising (esp. fashion) photography by Anandi Ramamurthy - not as compelling as it could be but makes some interesting points, for example relating to stock photos and image banks and the commercial need for photographs created without, or later detached from, any specific context or meaning.The case study on the controversial Benetton ad campaigns of the late 80's is worth reading.

Ch. 6 Photography as art by Liz Wells - pretty good but focuses on historical debates and doesn't consider the forces that have caused recent changes in art photography (new objectivity/deadpan, influence of cinema, aftermath photography, etc.). The case studies on Surrealism and Landscape photography (one of the author's specialties) could have been among the most interesting but are actually very lackluster.

Ch. 7 Photography in the digital age by Martin Lister - the oddest chapter but in some ways the most satisfying.It's the one chapter that was significantly changed for the third edition.The author seems to have left the earlier version more or less as it was but added what amounts to an extended postscript that says that what comes before it is wrong.The change of heart centers around the question of the impact of the advent of digital imaging on the connection between the photograph and reality.In the original version of the chapter he says that digital imaging invalidates the connection and ends photography as we know/knew it.In the postscript he says that things actually didn't change that much, that most digital images retain their connection to reality and that, even if some clearly don't, there have always, since the earliest days, been photographs that present something more or less different from literal reality - a theme that actually runs through the whole book and may be considered its central point.

My main feeling about this book is that I wish it were better.I wish were clearer and better structured, I wish it were more up-to-date and less encumbered by the intellectual cruft of academic postmodernism, and, finally, I wish it were less Anglocentric and paid more attention to photography of North America, Europe, and the rest of the world.Still for all that it is not a bad book, and I give it three stars.

An absolute MUST for photographers and artists working in photography
This book should be required for all photo students and art history and criticism students. I found the writing incredibly reader-friendly, though it helps to have an art or photo background already - this book does read like a textbook (because it is one!) but this is to its credit as it is incredibly organized, clear, and informative as an overview of photo criticism. One of the best features is that it includes detailed bibliographies at the end of each chapter, faithfully cites sources, and has side notes in the margins citing sources for further reading and adding more information, explanations, or qualifiers to the general discussion (the margins are great for writing your own notes, too). It does NOT have extensive illustrations - so do not buy this book for the images. However, the author explains in the introduction that she did not include so many except to clearly illustrate the text where needed in order to keep the cost of the book affordable. I feel that she made good choices in imagery and that there are plenty to support the text. I am starting a graduate program in visual and critical studies and work in photography, and I am sure I will use this critical introduction as a reference again and again, especially to find sources for research. I plan on buying the Photography Reader by Liz Wells as soon as I am able to.

Boring, but Useful for a Photographer
This review is aimed at photographers and not social scientists or philosophers.

Photographers are often like the allegorical blind men, each of whom examined a different part of an elephant with his hands and then concluded that the elephant was a snake, or a leaf, or a tree.Photographers tend to see the world of photography through their own viewfinders without stepping back and looking at all of photography, even though doing so might provide new insights in handling what they see in their viewfinder.

This book is a textbook that examines photography not from the point of technique, or learning how to read a photograph, but from the point of view of the social sciences and philosophy.It is primarily aimed at British society, but its lessons are applicable anywhere pictures are made.Many photographers will recognize the discussion of the truth of digital photography as opposed to film photography, but I wonder how many have considered how family photographs may actually shape family dynamics.

The book is divided into several chapters that are neither all inclusive nor exclusive.There is a general discussion of photography debates over time (e.g., "Is it Art"?), and then the book focuses on particular areas, including documentary, popular, body, advertising and fine art photography.It finishes with a chapter on electronic imaging.

The authors often describe movements historically, with a general recap of the main points of each issue (is photography by its use or nature demeaning to women?) but seldom go to the point of showing enough pictures and explaining them to prove either side of an argument.Instead they provide references and footnotes in the margins and leave it up to the reader to further explore the question.At the same time, some of the ideas, even though self-evident upon deep consideration, are provocative.For instance, the authors suggest that the fact that "private photography has become family photography is itself an indication of the domestication of everyday life...."What implications does this have for photography in today's multi-married, multi-divorced society?Often the discussions reverse on themselves, repeat ideas and jump backwards and forwards in time.Some readers may find the jargon of semiotics and deconstruction off-putting.The book is boring.

And yet a photographer cannot escape being humbled by realizing that the photography that he deals with is just one little corner of a wider universe, and humility may be good for a photographer.This volume may contain more intellectualizing then some photographers may be willing to tolerate, but even at the risk of being bored, a photographer may benefit from understanding the larger context of his or her work.

Excellent choice for Visual Artists contemplating photography as a medium of expression
As a Visual Arts student coming to terms with the whole conceptual ideology in contemporary art, I found this book an excellent choice for delving into the theoretical side of contemporary photgraphy. This book is definitely not bedtime reading.Trust me, I tried it and kept myself awake! There is also an excellent reference to archives, journals and other books to peruse.I found the book easy to understand and has helped me immensely in my quest to understand what constitutes Visual Art in current times. An excellent choice for all those contemplating a Visual Arts career using photographic images

A highly academic book
The other reviewers have hit the high points.This book is dry, lacks illustration, is academic and difficult to read.The writing style is highly academic with major points all but hidden in convoluted sentences.To complicate matters the chapters are written by different authors so the writing styles vary.There is much to be learned from this book but as the other reviewers have pointed out, it will be a painful process. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

good book
This is a great book! Great pictures and information. This was a good resource to use in a social studies classroom I got to teach in.

A noble authority.
I found this a fascinating visual record of the TVA and its work over the relevant years, 1933 to 1963.Patricia Ezzell, the TVA's historian, has selected 135 one-per-page photographs from more than twenty thousand in the archives and they really do reflect the wide range of activities the Authority was involved in, dam and reservoir building, power generation, fertilizer production, reforestation, mapping and surveying, flood control and more.

The book is divided into three sections, Depression Era, War Effort and Growth and Change. Although social photographer Lewis Hine was hired for a month in 1933 and contributed 197 photos in that time the majority of photos in the book are by Charles Krutch.He took thousands and it is the range of subject matter that makes the book so interesting to me.As well as the obvious technical shots of dam constructionKrutch also photographed temporary house building for construction workers, village and small town life, recreation centers, farming and folks relaxing in their homes enjoying the benefits of cheap TVA electricity.

The photos in the last section, Growth and Change (basically from 1945 to 1963) are devoted to the everyday.The TVA was by then established and you can see photos of transmission lines, aerial shots of large corporate plants, increased freight traffic on the Tennessee River, school visits to farms and even the contestants of the Miss Guntersville Lake Beauty Pageant.All thanks to the vision of the Roosevelt government years earlier.

The book is well printed and designed and the author writes a brief introduction to the TVA.The back includes a useful bibliography and index.My only criticism is that the map on page seven is woefully inadequate, the excellent captions with each photo mention places that I wanted to find out where they were but couldn't, I ended up using the TVA's interactive map on their website.Apart from the map this is a wonderful book about a huge endeavour that really made a difference to so many people.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover. ... Read more

Product Description
This in-depth and generously illustrated look at six postwar photographers, along with a selection of their predecessors and contemporaries, captures a unique and pivotal moment in American photographic history. World War II and its aftermath ushered in a new era of artistic expression. Abstract Expressionism, film noir, Beat poetry, and the New Journalism are often considered responses to war's shocking realities. Creative photographers responded to the same situation with images that broke the rules of conventional photographic technique. Street Seen, a companion volume to an exhibition, highlights six photographers who were prominent during and immediately following the war. Lisette Model s unflinching look at the urban environment; Louis Faurer s portraits of eccentrics in Times Square; Ted Croner s haunting night images; Saul Leiter s evocative glimpses of daily life; William Klein s graphic, confrontational style; and Robert Frank s documentation of American ideals gone awry these and other beautifully reproduced photographs communicate the emotional resonance of everyday life in postwar America. An essay by Lisa Hostetler explores the aesthetic revolution that took place after the war and reveals the principles of spontaneity and subjective interpretation that guided these photographers as they sought to make sense of new realities. A timeline, brief biographies, and bibliography are also included in this valuable compilation of the mid-century s most influential photography. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Valuable!
The exhibit the book is based on is the kind that makes you want to pick up a camera and go out and shoot the next day. If you think Robert Frank mystically originated a new direction in photography all by himself, get this book. If you want to see the equivalent in still of what Noir was in motion, get this book. If you want to see a portrayal of humanity that is the the equivalent of Giacometti in photo, get this book.

I usually am annoyed by the very presence of placard copy at a visual arts exhibit, often muttering under my breath, "If you wanted to see words you should go to a library." But the captions, based on text in this book, were actually motivating and clarifying in their making of connections.

The original print size in this era was small, so there is not much lost in terms of scale between exhibit and catalogue. A fault to me was having some images reproduced as a spread, leaving the gutter going down the center of an image. Why would you do this to a fine art image?

Get it. They will probably have clearance discounts now that the show is over.

Scenes from the street
Lisa Hostetler brings together various political, social and creative strands in this brief look at six street photographers, though I would call the six featured members of a much wider New York School.Only NYC seems to have generated such a creative photographic explosion in the relevant years and not only via the camera but canvas, too.The exhibition (and six pages in the book) features art from de Kooning, Kline, Pollock and Pousette-Dart though I'm not sure why other than they are visual.

I thought the book had a rather unfortunate editorial weakness by just focusing on the six: Croner; Faurer; Frank; Klein; Leiter and Model.By not including Arbus, Davidson, Levitt, Weegee and others seems a mistake because they all contributed just as much to this new, slowly evolving street style of personal, impressionistic photography.This was really brought home to me when comparing 'Street seen' with Jane Livingston's remarkably thorough The New York School: Photographs, 1936-1963 where, as well the six, an additional ten photographers are considered.Not only does Livingston fully explore the lives of these artists but she reveals, in depth, the social and commercial background to the times that helped create this School genre.Of the 137 photos in 'Street seen' I think well over half also appear in Livingston's book (which has about two hundred and displayed better).

'Street seen' is beautifully printed on a matt art paper but I thought it somewhat over designed to make the contents fill the 278 pages.The copy, set in a fairly large size, only fills the bottom half of the text pages, with quite a few columns falling short, the footnotes, thankfully placed at the bottom of the relevant pages, are in a tiny condensed type (six point) that I found hard to read except in daylight.At the back of the book there are nineteen pages of an historical timeline and biographies of twenty-four photographers that only really need ten pages or less.The book is sufficently lightweight not to have an index.Strangest of all are very faint page grid lines that appear on the left-hand edge of all the text, pure designer whimsy as they contribute nothing to the book's comprehension.Oh, and seventy-three pages have no numbers either.

No doubt seeing these street photos in an exhibition was fascinating and thought provoking but I found the book sadly lacking when compared to Jane Livingston's superior coverage in words and images of these interesting photographers.


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Product Description
Essays by one of the great, classical, American portrait photographers of this era. Move over Susan Sontag! --Michael Lesy. Not only are Jerry Thompson's essays beautifully composed, but their complete success in aligning so much precise observation with such a wide and intellectually appropriate range of critical thought makes them unique in the entire literature on photography, at least as far as I am acquainted with it. --Hilton Kramer ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Essays reflecting on working photography experiences
Pictures via camera reflect not only what the photographer sees, but what he thinks about. The most successful reflect an understanding of things as much as their image, and Jerry Thompson's exploration of the relationship between seeing and thinking in Truth And Photography provides a set of fine duotone photos to illustrate essays reflecting on working photography experiences. ... Read more

Product Description
Roland Barthes's 1980 book Camera Lucida is perhaps the most influential book ever published on photography. The terms studium and punctum, coined by Barthes for two different ways of responding to photographs, are part of the standard lexicon for discussions of photography; Barthes's understanding of photographic time and the relationship he forges between photography and death have been invoked countless times in photographic discourse; and the current interest in vernacular photographs and the ubiquity of subjective, even novelistic, ways of writing about photography both owe something to Barthes. Photography Degree Zero, the first anthology of writings on Camera Lucida, goes beyond the usual critical orthodoxies to offer a range of perspectives on Barthes's important book.

Photography Degree Zero (the title links Barthes's first book, Writing Degree Zero, to his last, Camera Lucida) includes essays written soon after Barthes's book appeared as well as more recent rereadings of it, some previously unpublished. The contributors' approaches range from psychoanalytical (in an essay drawing on the work of Lacan) to Buddhist (in an essay that compares the photographic flash to the mystic's light of revelation); they include a history of Barthes's writings on photography and an account of Camera Lucida and its reception; two views of the book through the lens of race; and a provocative essay by Michael Fried and two responses to it.

The variety of perspectives included in Photography Degree Zero, and the focus on Camera Lucida in the context of photography rather than literature or philosophy, serve to reopen a vital conversation on Barthes's influential work.

Contributors: Geoffrey Batchen, Victor Burgin, Eduardo Cadava, Paola Cortés-Rocca, James Elkins, Michael Fried, Jane Gallop, Gordon Hughes, Margaret Iversen, Rosalind E. Krauss, Carol Mavor, Margaret Olin, Jay Prosser, Shawn Michelle Smith ... Read more

Product Description
Authoritative and insightful, Arnason’s History of Modern Art remains the definitive source of information on the art of the Modern Era from modernism’s mid-nineteenth century European beginnings to today’s divergent art trends. Now full-color throughout, this Fifth Edition has been completely redesigned to make it even more elegant and easy-to-use. New heads, subheads, and a glossary have been added to help the reader navigate the material and quickly identify areas of interest. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Huh/
I was to understand this was a brand new item and when i received it it was in used conditions. Not horrible but could have been better.

A Rudimentary Review of Modern Art
I would tend to agree with the first reviewer back in 2004.All in all not an impressive book.Most definetly not worth the price $$$.

We like art books, and love modern art books.We have had an opportunity to see both the 4th & 5th editions of this large modern art history book. There is not that much difference in the contents between the editions.

In this case bigger is not better.Indeed a large tome. But the contents seems to skim over the various movements in the world of modern art. Indeed all of the modern artists are represented.But the information about them is rudimentary.

As a suggestion not a recommendation one might consider 'Shock of the New' by Hughs. Hughs Omitting many an artist nonetheless the reader gets a fuller feel for each movement and how it entrenched itself into the fabric of its time.

Great
Excellent shipping, love the fact that it isn't paperback like most text, and you learn alot from it.

History of Modern Art
The book seems intimidating due to it's size, but it is interesting and you'll learn alot about the topic.

a must-have for your art book collection
This was excellent.Very comprehensive, to say the least, and very well organized. This is my only book from art class that I actually sustained my interest!Definitely worth it. ... Read more

Product Description
This comprehensive guide shows how photography became possible: from the early experiments with light, to sophisticated camera equipment and the stunning work of famous contemporary photographers.

Highly illustrated throughout in colour and black and white, the reader is taken on a fascinating photographic tour through history. Whether you are a student or dedicated enthusiast, this book will further your understanding of photography.

Written as an introductory text, the book is divided into two main halves. The first half deals with the main technical developments and describes the groundbreaking work of inventors that eventually led to the capture and permanent storage of an image. Developments in camera technologies are also described - from portable camera obscuras to modern day compacts and sophisticated electronic systems.

As the technical aspects of photography evolved, so too did its application. Photographers realised they could express a point of view, or use the medium as a language. For some this meant a romantic portrayal of a subject, whilst others documented the reality of situations, like war or poverty, or became obsessed with the visual appearance of subject shapes and forms. The second half of the book concentrates on what and why photographs were taken - showing how technique has become a means to an end, particularly in the hands of artists.

The late Michael Langford FIIP, FRPS was the former Photography Course Director at the Royal College of Art, London. He acted as external assessor for several schools of photography, was past chairman of The Society for Photographic Education, and an advisor to national examination boards for photography. He also wrote hundreds of articles for British and American magazines and was the author of three other best-selling textbooks for Focal Press: 'Basic Photography', 'Advanced Photography' and 'Starting Photography'.

Improve your knowledge with this recommended, A-level and City and Guilds 9231 textbook
A complete, visually stunning, overview with over 200 illustrations to inspire you!
Handy summaries at the end of each chapter for quick revision
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Story of Photography: How it grew to be an Art
This fascinating story of how photography developed from a technical invention to a foremost art should be in the library of everyone who is interested in how our world came into being. Photography not only shows usthe world, it helps us to interpret it; and this book clarifies how thatcame about. It traces the accomplishments of the inventors and theirinventions, as well as those who use photography as their art orprofession. In addition, it contains an excellent glossary; and a helpfulTimeline, relating technical developments, photographers and movements, andhistorical events. This concise book is liberally illustrated, and containsa summary at the end of each chapter. For those who would like to applywhat they have learned, there are also assignments that clarify thesubjects. Overall, this book is a highly informative and enjoyable read. ... Read more

Product Description

Photography Theory presents forty of the world's most active art historians and theorists, including Victor Burgin, Joel Snyder, Rosalind Krauss, Alan Trachtenberg, Geoffrey Batchen, Carol Squiers, Margaret Iversen and Abigail Solomon-Godeau in animated debate on the nature of photography.

Photography has been around for nearly two centuries, but we are no closer to understanding what it is. For some people, a photograph is an optically accurate impression of the world, for others, it is mainly a way of remembering people and places. Some view it as a sign of bourgeois life, a kind of addiction of the middle class, whilst others see it as a troublesome interloper that has confused people's ideas of reality and fine art to the point that they have difficulty even defining what a photograph is. For some, the whole question of finding photography's nature is itself misguided from the beginning.

This provocative second volume in the Routledge The Art Seminar series presents not one but many answers to the question what makes a photograph a photograph?

Customer Reviews (4)

i wouldn't bother
This book is mostly a rehashing of the subject on indexicality...is a photo an index or is it not.It is somewhat interesting but i think there are better things to read and a better things to spend money on.

Theory in Search of Utility
Even though I've studied philosophy and semiotics extensively I consider myself a photographer rather than a philosopher or semiologist.Yet I believe that photography, or at least art photography, should have meaning.Photography theory as a field has seemed to work at the intersection of philosophy, semiotics and art history.I've thought that it might provide insight into the way that photographs demonstrate meaning and that it might help me to be a better photographer and viewer of photographs.Over the years I've read the important works in photographic theory by authors like Walter Benjamin, Roland Barthes, and Susan Sontag, and more recently, Michael Fried. Although I often found photographic theory interesting as an intellectual and sociological exercise, nothing in photographic theory seemed to bear any relevance to either my own image making or my appreciation of images of others. Even though its utility to a photographer was suspect, I wanted to test whether my general impression was correct by reading the 2007 "Photography Theory".

This book centers around a seminar of photographic theory academicians held at the University College Cork.The book begins with several introductory essays that were meant to lay the groundwork for the seminar, followed by a transcript of the actual seminar.This is followed by a twenty-seven so-called assessments meant to address the points raised in the seminar, and then two essays meant to wrap up the subject.

The seminar itself dealt with a number of subjects that most photographers would find esoteric.The base question was, "what is photography?", and in attempting to answer that question a number of issues were raised.Typical was the question of the index, which to semiologists is a particular kind of sign or representation.Although the discussants dwelt on the subject at length, and although a few of the discussants asked what the use of the concept of an index was in a practical world, the discussion reached no conclusions.To similar effect was the discussion of Roland Barthes' distinction between punctum and stadium, which again reached no conclusion and demonstrated a concept in search of utility.

The assessments were far more interesting than the seminar.A few assessors offered up what they considered clarifications or explanations of the seminar and a few chose to dwell on their own work without reference to the discussion.Many more felt that the discussion proved the non-utility (none of the assessors used the word "useless") of either the current state of photography theory or the seminar.

After most of this I was more than ever convinced that photographic theory was of no help to me as a photographer, or even as a student of photography.Then the very last essay in the book arrested my attention.In "Photographs and Fossils", Walter Benn Michaels, a literary theorist teaching at the University of Illinois, offered a synthesis of the topics discussed and even an explanation of the most recent work of Michael Fried, that placed the diverse viewpoints previously discussed into an understandable perspective.He suggested that the reason for the confusion represented the dilemma of not just photography but art at the current time as to whether the artist should attempt to wrest control of the image by forcing the viewer to accept the artist's denotation of the image rather than the viewer's connotations.(Those are my words, not Michaels'.)

Ultimately then, "Photography Theory" left me skeptical as to photography theory's usefulness to the practicing photographer and viewer, although a single essay left me still hopeful.Unfortunately, Michaels' work is otherwise unavailable, so the reader will have to determine if this wonderful paper is worth the aggravation of the rest of the book

Term paper gone horribly wrong
This is someone's term paper or research thesis turned into a book. Very educational, very much theory, and VERY BORING... I guess unless you are in education this book is a waste for time to read.

A lively discussion of indexicality but unfortunately not much else
Photography Theory is the second in a projected seven volume series called The Art Seminar, edited by James Elkins and sponsored by University College Cork and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, among other institutions.I have only read this volume, but all evidently have, or will have, the same basic format:

(1) Introduction - an overview survey article commissioned for the book

(2) Starting Points - a small collection of papers on specific topics intended to stimulate discussion.

(3) The Art Seminar proper - the transcript of an extended panel discussion on the subject of the book involving 8-12 participants and gently moderated by Elkins.

(4) Assessments - twenty-five to thirty mostly one-page responses to the panel discussion by qualified people, primarily (exclusively?) academics, including a luminary or two.In this volume those who contributed responses were all different(with one special exception I'll return to below) from those who participated in the panel discussion, but it doesn't seem to be a requirement of the series.

(5) Afterwards - a small number of papers commissioned for the book that discuss the subject with reference (but not necessarily very much reference) to the papers, the panel discussion and the responses.

While not necessarily the most valuable part of the book, the panel discussion is clearly the heart of it.And in the case of Photography Theory it is a faltering one.The participants themselves seem unhappy with the results they achieve, or rather fail to achieve, and acknowledge more or less directly the following shortfalls, among others.

(a) They cannot agree on "the index", a specific theoretical conception, derived from the philosophical work of C.S. Peirce, of the special "non-coded" (i.e. direct, inherent) relationship of a photograph to what it is a photograph of.

(b) They cannot agree on what to make of Roland Barthes' writings on photography, particularly his late work Camera Lucida (1980), including the famous distinction between studium and punctum.

(c) They cannot agree on the issue of the medium-specificity of photography as an art form and its relationship to painting and other art forms.

(d) Their home territory is art history and criticism, and they are not sure what to think about forms of photography that fall outside this domain.

(e) They are all academics and spend most of their time discussing photography with other academics and very little with practicing photographers.

(f) They spend much more time talking about the theory of photography than about actual photographs.

To their credit and especially to Elkins', there is no evidence that they improved the discussion after the fact by adding material to the transcript, or for that matter by taking material out (not counting grammatical discontinuities and easily imaginable ephemera like who wants the chicken salad or which pub shall we go to after we're done).

Similarly, and credit for this must go to Elkins, there is no evidence of the responses being limited in any way, whether in length or in content or in tone.The fact is that some of them are unapologetically negative, hammering on the weak points acknowledged by the panelists themselves, and others as well.They occasionally grind their own axes, but mostly ones relating to the topics at hand.

So too for the afterwards, thoughthese are less tied to the panel discussion and consequently less critical.(In fact, if anything they are too disconnected and take on the quality of, this is an interesting subject, here's what I think about it.)

Still, there is one genuine sour note in the book that deserves mention.If you look carefully at the contents you will see that two people made contributions to two different sections.One is Rosalind Krauss, who has both a brief piece "Introductory Note" at the end of the Starting Points and another "Note on the obtuse" in the Assessments.The other is Joel Snyder, who participates in the panel discussion and also has an item entitled "Pointless" at the end of the Assessments.The two are related.

Krauss says in "Notes on the obtuse" that she and Snyder "have been arguing about matters connected to the index for at least ten years now" (p.341).They are clearly still doing so in the book, each trying to get the last word, and not in a friendly way.Snyder for his part, after noting the civility, if not the fruitfulness, of the debate about indexicality in the panel discussion, goes on to say: "Regrettably, some of the statements in this volume are not presented in the spirit of the talks at Cork, and so I will be blunt in my response", adding parenthetically "(obtusus in Latin means, among other things, blunt)", a clear reference to the title of Krauss's second piece.Then he goes on for more than twenty pages (one of the longest contributions in the Assessments sections; Krauss's two items are only a few pages each) restating his positions and addressing Krauss's statements point by point.

For me all the weaknesses of the panel discussion listed above come together in this unpleasant after the fact debate.The discussion has become too academic, the positions too entrenched, and the scope too narrow.There is clearly something real in the notion of indexicality, but the Peircean foundation is too abstract and too aprioristic to truly explain it, and those whose who are trying to apply the concept to the problems of photography and art lack either the inclination or the ability or both to evolve it into a theory of photography that really works.The last essay in the book, the second of the two afterwards, by Walter Benn Michaels, is called "Photography and Fossils".It seems to me that the biggest fossil in photography is the index, as conceived by those who believe in it. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

If people really want a proper theory of photography, it should be one that covers all photography - or maybe even all of what we are now more likely to call imaging - both art and non-art (vernacular and utilitarian), both visual and non-visual (in the sense of showing something significantly different from what can be seen with the unaided eye).The theory should explain both the nature of how images are made and how they are perceived and understood by human beings.

Elkins himself says something like this in the course of the panel discussion, and at one point brings up the example of side-scan sonar images.This was one of the times when people"stopped talking", but he himself says something very interesting: "It looks like a lunar landscape, but it can't be "read" like an image: you think you're seeing hills and valleys, but actually the value scale denotes hardness, softness and other properties. ..." (p. 181).I would add that you don't have to go this far afield to find images that raise interesting questions of "reading". Why do black and white photos seem realistic and HDR photos don't?Why do we trust an image made with a shift-and-tilt lens but not one that has had its perspective fixed in Photoshop?Where is the photographer in an automatic surveillance photo, or in a Gregory Crewdson shot?

To conclude, if you are interested in photography theory that sees indexicality as the central overriding issue, you will probably find a lot that's worthwhile in this book, especially in the panel discussion and the responses.If on the other hand you are mainly interested in other things, for example the history of photography or the social function of photography or contemporary art photography, or simply how to take good pictures, then you will probably not find much of anything.

With that caveat I give it four stars.
... Read more

Product Description
MY LITTLE GRAY HOME IN THE WEST
_By _GEORGE M. ALLEN, _Portland, Ore._
THE BUDDHA
_By _FRED R. ARCHER, _Los Angeles, Cal._
ISLANDERS
_By _LAURA ADAMS ARMER, _Berkeley, Cal._
ANN SPENCER
_By _JESSIE TARBOX BEALS, _New York_
EARLY MORNING
_By _DAVID W. BONNAR, _Buffalo, N. Y._
A BIT OF HOME LIFE
_By _WILL D. BRODHUN, _Wilkes-Barre, Pa._
A MOMENT'S REST
_By _GERTRUDE L. BROWN, _Evanston, Ill._
DANCERS
_By _JOHN C. BURKHARDT, _Portland, Ore._
DOUARNENEZ, FINISTÈRE
_By _DR. A. D. CHAFFEE, _New York_
RHEIMS
_By _ARTHUR D. CHAPMAN, _New York_
MICHIO ITORO
_By _ALVIN LANGDON COLBURN, _New York_
THE STREET
_By _ALFRED COHN, _Brooklyn, N. Y._
ST. JOHN'S CATHEDRAL
_By _JAMES COPELLA, _New York_
MR. MATSUMOTO KOSHIRO AS "TCHIKAWA GOYEMON" (THE ROBIN HOOD OF JAPAN)
_By _C. P. CROWTHER, _Kobe, Japan_
SPRING O' THE YEAR
_By _HELEN W. DREW, _Montclair, N. J._
THE LIFTING MIST
_By _JERRY D. DREW, _Montclair, N. J._
THE DOORWAY
_By _DWIGHT A. DAVIS, _Worcester, Mass._
HIGH BRIDGE
_By _EDWARD R. DICKSON, _New York City_
MRS. VERNON CASTLE
_By _DE MEYER, _New York_
BOATS
_By _E. G. DUNNING, _New York_
COMING TO SCHOOL
_By _VERNON EVERETT DUROC, _Brooklyn, N. Y._
STUDY
_By _WILLIAM B. DYER, _Portland, Ore._
DESIGN FOR A TAPESTRY
_By _JOHN PAUL EDWARDS, _Sacramento, Cal._
STUDY
_By _ADELAIDE WALLACH EHRICH, _New York_
LANDSCAPE
_By _ELEANOR C. ERVING, _Albany, N. Y._
SUGARLOAF MOUNTAIN
_By _W. H. EVANS, _Wilkes-Barre, Pa._
SIDEWALK TREASURES
_By _O. E. FISCHER, M. D., _Detroit, Mich._
THE GIRL FROM DELHI
_By _LOUIS FLECKENSTEIN, _Los Angeles, Cal._
FIFTY YEARS
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Product Description
Through a rich interpretation of the remarkable photographs W. E. B. Du Bois compiled for the American Negro Exhibit at the 1900 Paris Exposition, Shawn Michelle Smith reveals the visual dimension of the color line that Du Bois famously called "the problem of the twentieth century." Du Bois’s prize-winning exhibit consisted of three albums together containing 363 black-and-white photographs, mostly of middle-class African Americans from Atlanta and other parts of Georgia. Smith provides an extensive analysis of the images, the antiracist message Du Bois conveyed by collecting and displaying them, and their connection to his critical thought. She contends that Du Bois was an early visual theorist of race and racism and demonstrates how such an understanding makes the important concepts he developed—including double consciousness, the color line, the Veil, and second sight—available to visual culture and African American studies scholars in powerful new ways.

Smith reads Du Bois’s photographs in relation to other turn-of-the-century images such as scientific typologies, criminal mugshots, racist caricatures, and lynching photographs. By juxtaposing these images with reproductions from Du Bois’s exhibition archive, Smith shows how Du Bois deliberately challenged racist representations of African Americans. Emphasizing the importance of comparing multiple visual archives, Photography on the Color Line reinvigorates understandings of the stakes of representation and the fundamental connections between race and visual culture in the United States. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

contrasting parts
The book has 2 very contrasting parts. The first is an analysis of Du Bois' collection of Georgia Negro photographs, that he exhibited at the 1900 Paris Exposition. Several hundred photos. Mostly of middle class American Negroes, well dressed and well posed for the photographer. (Who was not actually Du Bois himself.) The photos tended to show people born after the end of the Civil War and slavery.

In that Paris Exposition, Du Bois' offering was a deliberate contrast to the other depictions of Africans, which came from the European empires in Africa. These invariably showed tribal Africans. Backward and ignorant. This was the ideological or racial justification for the White Man's Burden of imperialism. What Du Bois depicted were educated Americans, as an eloquent counterpoint. Here were people of African descent, but otherwise indistinguishable from white middle class Americans or Europeans.

Another fillip was the inclusion of light skinned Negroes by Du Bois. As a rejoinder to a strict racial and racist separation promulgated by some whites. In one example, there is a photo of a girl who looked more southern European (think Spaniard or Italian perhaps) than African. Yet to the white mainstream, she would have been irrevocably classified as Negro.

The second half of the book studies the lynching photos. Taken by whites at lynchings throughout the American South. Here, Smith takes particulars never to show the grotesqueries of the victims. (Other books adequately do this.) Instead, there is an incisive analysis of the white spectators and participants. We see them preening and guiltless. Many of the photos were in fact used as postcards, sent by the participants to others. While the white ideology of those times depicted Negroes as savages, the book asks, who were the actual savages? ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Nostalgia and Frozen Histories
Luc Sante in FOLK PHOTOGRAPHY: The American Real-Photo Postcard 1905-1930 brings to our attention, or rather reminds us - for how many of us have cloistered these old postcards handed down to us from our ancestors only to leave them tucked away in 'boxes to be discarded/kept' - of a pastime from the early part of the last century when photos of the family or of interesting moments recorded during vacations or simply from daily lives were taken to a shop where they could be made into postcards to mail for very little money to lucky recipients.This craze was world wide, but Sante has focused on American made postcards, and because of that he dredges up on the pages of this very well designed book some 100 photographs on postcards that survey the spectrum of topics that amateurs felt made interesting (and at times newsworthy) messages to family members dispersed across the country.

The variation in imagery is tremendous: a simple portrait of a plumber holding a toilet and tools, strange locations for animals as in pigs on a sidewalk, obviously staged scenes with cutout props as in 'Paper Moon', religious acts, fires and their management by the local firemen, still lifes of death (photographic reliquaries) such as images of the deceased laid to rest in coffins, etc.The emotions these images touch are the spectrum of human interest, from humor to devastation.But it seems that Luc Sante is less interested in the recalling of these times than he is in substantiating these postcards as an important hiatus in the history of photographic art that began with the invention of the camera, then passed to the accessibility of this recorder of human events to the common people, to becoming a means of studying the development of America's progress into and within the industrial age.The book remains entertaining to those who are enchanted with memorabilia, but it also becomes a strong document for studying American history as told by those who lived it.This is an inspiring book, but it also is an important resource for looking back and seeing how we all developed as a people.Highly Recommended.Grady Harp, September 10

Lovely, Luscious, Lurid and Great
By turns lovely, gorgeous, lurid, gruesome, luscious and great.Full of histories we did not know, could not imagine and will smile wide and genuine when we do. That Sante is willing to share is to our advantage.When was the last time a single stationary image made you ache?Every library of photography, every institution of learning and every person who fears not our past and those capable of feeling small delights in our present will love this book.

Jim Linderman
[...] ... Read more

Product Description
A magnificent one volume pictorial and narrative history of the United States with more than five hundred exceptional illustrations, many reproduced here for the first time.Amazon.com Review
The Library of Congress is the largest library on earth, withmore than 111 million items. Eyes of the Nation'snearly 400 lavishly illustrated pages take the reader into the vaultsof the library to see such priceless relics as Thomas Jefferson'sdraft for the Declaration of Independence, James Madison's handwritten"Notes on Debates on the Bill of Rights," and Abraham Lincoln'smanuscript of the Emancipation Proclamation. And not only the obviousartifacts of American history are featured. Also included are maps soold that cartographers drew sea serpents cavorting in the ocean waves,a galley of Leaves ofGrass with Walt Whitman's handwritten corrections, anda poster advertising the Grateful Dead at San Francisco's AvalonBallroom.

Besides the abundant and well-captioned illustrations, each chapter isintroduced by an essay by historian Alan Brinkley,a professor at Columbia and winner of the National BookAward. Brinkley's text could stand alone as a solid, balanced overviewof American history. It also adds essential structure and context tothe book's parade of images. Eyes of the Nation is arare combination of ravishing visuals with substantive, carefullyconceived text and structure. For anyone interested in the vastAmerican experience, it's nearly impossible to open its pages withoutbeing drawn in. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

2005 Writers Notes Book Award First Runner-Up
Visiting the Library of Congress is like entering the vaults of the Smithsonian-fascinating, intelligent, and unavoidably eclectic. Such is the case with Eyes of the Nation, which calls upon the Library of Congress' print collection to reveal America from Columbus to the near present. Among the scores of important papers, maps, and photos, you'll find pictures of an unfinished Capitol Rotunda during Lincoln's inauguration, Oppenheimer's notes on nuclear reactions, and the real faces of Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, not to mention his actual manuscript pages. Historian Alan Brinkley binds the collection with poignant direction, making it as much a reference text as a work of art.

Fresh and intense look at who we were and are
This is a fascinating and valuable look at the United States presented with a number of rarely seemed photographs. You will learn something here even if you think you know the whole story of our nation's 200+ years. The only caveats are a few photos which, while presenting some of the true (and unfortunate) incidents of our history, may be too graphic for children (and some adults!) Overall a fine volume worthy of any library.

An heirloom for every American
As the Library of Congress marks our country's history as the U.S.'s continual time capsule;this tome offers a glance into her walls.Beautifully assembled, this keepsake will instill pride in its citizenry. Making selections from myriad possibilities must have been a direundertaking, but those represented indicate a fair cross-section of timeand geography.An excellent tribute to a worthy source! ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

GREAT BOOK ON PHOTO TECHNIQUES....
I always take this book with me whenever I work in the Darkroom.
This book is concise in its technical details and instructions. Easily understood and full of tips, this book will start you on the correct photography path. Excellent for beginning photo students, very helpful to photographers already working in the darkroom.

The title is misleading but the book may still prove useful.
If what you want to learn are the steps to being able to develop and print your own black and white images, then only Part III of this book will be of interest to you. Parts I and II delve into the rudimentary basics of photography in general such as choosing a lens and camera, what medium and large format is, taking people pictures, etc..

In this sense, the book can be considered a basic introduction to photography in general. It is not specialized to black and white photography as the title implies. If you already have the basics of taking pictures and just want to learn the best methods to begin developing and printing your own black and white prints, skip this book. It will repeat a lot of what you already know.

However, if you are truly a beginner photographer and want a good overview, with some information on doing black and white photography thrown in, this book may be just the book for you.

I find the title misleading in that the sections on black and white photography are minimal in comparison to the sections on the basics of photography in general. ... Read more

Product Description
In Photography After Frank, former New York Times writer and picture editor Philip Gefter narrates the tale of contemporary photography, beginning at the pivotal moment when Robert Frank commenced his seminal works of the 1950s. Along the way, he connects the dots of photography's evolution into what it is today, forging links between its episodes to reveal unsuspected leaps. Gefter takes Frank's The Americans as a decisive challenge to photographic objectivity, with its grainy, off-hand-seeming spontaneity and its documentation of life beyond the picket fence. Thus viewed, The Americans provides Gefter with a bridge to the phenomenon of the staged document and Postmodernism's further challenge to image fidelity. Other areas of discussion include photojournalism, the recent diversity of portraiture styles, the influence of private and corporate collections on curatorial decisions and how the market shapes art making. Throughout Photography After Frank, Gefter deftly demonstrates Frank's legacy in the work of dozens of important individual artists who followed in his wake, from Lee Friedlander and Nan Goldin to Stephen Shore and Ryan McGinley. The book includes texts written exclusively for this publication as well as essays drawn from Gefter's critical writings, reviews and even obituaries. Photography After Frank offers a page-turning approach to a subject that will appeal to students and art world aficionados alike. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Things that happened after Frank
I don't buy the supposed connection between Frank and some of the photographers covered in this book. Avedon and Mapplethorpe? Pics are too small. Too much writing not enough pictures. The writing does not make the case. It is contrived art scholar verbiage. Walker Evans and Company is a much better book in this genre. As is Arthur Wesley Dow and American Arts and Crafts.

Save your money and buy film.
Mr. Gefter has a tenuous grasp on photographic history at best, and, at worst, comes across as hawking for the publishing company Aperture.

Excellent Photgography Essays
For us photography nuts this is must have. This collection of essays on artists and other photo subjects is a delightful and valuable read.

Essential Reading
[...]

When people ask me what they need to do to understand the world of fine art photography, I tell them: go to galleries, preview auctions, and read the photography criticism in The New York Times. The Times suggestion was in large part because of the timely, eloquent, and provocative writing of Philip Gefter, the picture editor and photography writer for the paper's Arts & Leisure section. Gefter has now left the paper although he continues to contribute as a freelance and you'll now see his byline in other publications. But the good news is that Aperture have gathered 39 of his pieces in one volume that no-one interested in photography should be without.

As you can see above, it has a great cover featuring Ryan McGinley's "Dakota Hair" from 2004. From there, much like the picture, it's an exhilarating and breezy journey though modern photography. Stephen Shore is "Walker Evans - stoned"! On Richard Misrach "Don't let the beauty of Richard Misrach fool you. ... What lies beneath the surface is more to the point." And from an essay on Vince Aletti's magazine collection, "One Saturday afternoon, I accompanied Vince on his rounds and, after nine galleries, with flagging energy I begged off. But Vince was not finished for the day. He is dogged apparently insatiable in his quest to know what's out there, to see what artists are doing. I have come to understand that his commitment to looking at art stems from the same impulse to collect: know thy culture, know thyself."

Now that's summer reading!

"Photography After Frank"
I highly recommend"Photography After Frank". It gave me a really good grasp of the landscape of contemporary photography by tracing its roots back to Robert Frank. The essays are well written and insightful and devoid of artspeak. As a whole, a really good explanation of the way the photographic image has mutated and transformed with new technologies, and, also, evolved alongside painting. ... Read more