Richard Avedon wears several hats. As an artist creating innovative commercial images; He is behind the most dynamic magazine pages of the day,... He is witness of the greatest generation to social and political fact; He tells stories of icons and common men. He places them alike: actors, writers, poets, politicians and artists. The poet who recites through his lens.
Published to accompany a major Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition, Richard Avedon Portraits celebrates His lifetime of achievements and almost does justice to the work.

RICHARD AVEDON PORTRAITS is a stunning work, not only because of the usual expected glory of his photographs, but because of the genuinely artistic concept behind this catalogue for a Museum Exhibition. Slipcased, the book opens as an accordian with single and diptych/triptych photographs viewable by placing the unscrolled book on a tabletop or bookshelf. Not that there are any new moments here: this is a collection of some of Avedon's famous faces and bodies, curated for a specific purpose. But to view Andy Warhol together with his co-creators of his photos and films standing on one page clothed and on another nude intensifies the manner in which Avedon's manner of capturing the star's works so well. We are treated to a full face of Francis Bacon and in the next panel a partial view of his entire body. All manner of odd characters inhabit these deliciously synchronous pages. The back side of this tableaux discusses Avedon, his influences and appropriations from painting and other art forms, and does what it sets out to do - make the pieces of the tableaux relevant in the history of the time in which they were photographed. This is a clever and rewarding book and the book itself becomes art.

I stumbled upon this book in New York a few years back and was immediately stunned by its beauty and quality. The Gilman Paper Company apparently started their collection well before the current photography craze and amassed one of the most outstanding collections that you can imagine. Most of these photos are from the very earliest days of the medium and many are in the sepia tone that I personally love. The quality of reproduction is so good that you can actually frame some of the photos! It's astounding...well worth obtaining for any art book collector.

I purchased this book in conjunction with The Metropolitan Museum exhibit of the same name. I spent hours in the exhibit, and I spent hours pouring over the lush, and beautifully reproduced images in this book. I've always been fascinated with the photographic process, and this book explores it down to the roots. I've walked away amazed that someone figured out how to look at something, and through a chemical process tranfer ones vision onto paper. (Not to mention concocting the chemical formula) A stunning book, well worth the price.

This first full-length study of Walker Evans offers insights into his artistry and a fresh look at every state of his career.

Walker Evans' photography rates amongst the best. His ability to capture a scene of everyday life and extract from it the beauty often overlooked by others is remarkable. The skill displayed in taking these photographs demonstrates why he has earned an enduring reputation as a master photographer. An inspirational must have for amateurs and professionals alike.

Carleton Watkins is an overlooked figure in the history of American photography--Artistically we could not have wanted for more in someone recording the "wilds" of the West. Beautiful photographs of San Francisco and the Northwest's industrial beginnings, and timeless representation of Yosemite's natural wonder.

Maria Morris Hambourg has made us a beautiful and important book, again. She has produced a silent essay from a collection of delicate and powerful private images. Untitled photographs, beautifully printed, they speak for themselves. She writes about the photographer and puts these nudes into the context of his life and his other work. What Hambourg writes about the relationship between artist and model is authentic and enlightening. A wide range of very strong and unique work is beautifully presented here. It is hard to imagine a more difficult book to create and impossible to find a flaw in the result.

It is still possible to miss the point of this book. Fanning the pages looking for what passes for beautiful bodies these days will tell you more about yourself than the artist.

This work will startle some people who know only Penn's famous portraits and fashion photographs. These are primitive, direct and pure essence of the subject, counterpoint to his highly refined public work. Penn uses the power of the raw photograph with great self-assurance to discover detail in otherwise very simple images. Some of his pictures seem unfinished, but the author makes it clear there are no accidents in these prints - they are as carefully done as his familiar published work.

Some images deliberately recall sculpture from Venus de Milo and Nike of Samothrace to the female scuptures from prehistoric caves. Some images draw on Stieglitz, Weston, and perhaps Bernhard. A lesser artist would just seem derivative but the few references to others simply reinforce the strength of Penn's own vision.

Hambourg shows us by her editing just how Penn worked. She includes one contact sheet that invokes the closeness of the "dance" between artist and model that most never see and photographers seldom want to show. Hambourg's deft touch greatly enriches this book without distracting from the artist.

Penn's nude photographs ranks with the nudes of Weston and only one or two others. It is a curious coincidence that the nudes of Weston, Stieglitz and Penn were all conserved and presented to us by women. That is sufficient reason to pay attention to how this work is presented.

Paul Strand unquestionably had a great career in photography and is one of the all time masters. But this book of his early work shows the depth of his artistic vision. Unconstrained by commercial pressures and reputation, much of Strand's early work shown in this book is graphically stronger, more "edgy", and more compelling than his later work, as acclaimed as it is.

If you love Strand's later work, this book, at the very least, will be meaningful to you by showing you a glimpse of the development of this great photographer. Beyond that, you may love his early work and find it compelling and inspirational, as I do.

This book shows his master of the darkroom, making all his works unique to themselves. If you are into black & white photography and printing this book is a revelation of what is possible.

This anthology, traces the development of an American master, opening a window to his creative process and inner life.

I was puzzled by this book when I first saw it: it seemed a strange miscellany of archival trivia with little of the unearthed treasure I had hoped to see direct from the official Evans archive. But upon reflection I can see the method to Jeff Rosenheim & Company's "madness." This is less a book to read for enjoyment - although I have found it very enjoyable - than an anthology of materials (writings, letters, photographs, collections) essential to a thorough understanding of Walker Evans, either as a photographer or as a person. It is the background material from which his life was constructed, and I cannot imagine any serious student of Evans neglecting to own it.

What did I learn from this wonderful tome? Well, for one, it really fleshes out the seeming walking contradiction that was Walker Evans: A Bohemian who really *was* poor; A man so honestly in love with the French literature of his day that he went beyond the affectations of a dilletante and made some awkward attempts at his own stories, but also came up with some excellent translations; A progressive of the left who nonetheless had no use for New Deal phoney hacks; A man of letters, culture and taste who also had a great command over four letter words in his letters to Hans Skolle and James Agee (I love the "hatred for" lists compiled by the latter two -- totally politically incorrect).

Walker Evans was a brilliant photographer, therefore was a bitter man, because he observed life so keenly; the warts took on an almost surreal dimension. Nonetheless, he could always see beyond the muck and mire, and it is his bittersweet reflections on life that have the ring of honesty, integrity and a sort of sour, cynical truth, but never "truth with a capital 'T'."

I feel after reading this collection of elusive ephemera that I now truly can begin to understand what made Walker Evans tick.
I recommend reading this while imbibing rum and Cokes or a fine Bordeaux Rouge.

A remarkable overview of this important period of photography. A must read for serious students/collectors/appreciators of modernist photography.