Book Description

For the last twenty years, James Casebere has constructed increasingly complex small-scale architectural models that are carefully built and then subtly lit and photographed in the studio. These table-sized models are made of simple materials, pared down to essential forms, empty of both extraneous detail and action. Casebere's disconcerting ''sites'' recall prisons, monasteries, tunnels, factories, and other archetypal spaces. Casebere has gained increasing international acclaim in recent years as the leading proponent of what has become known as ''constructed photography.'' This is the first publication to comprehensively survey Casebere's career in its entirety, and provides an important contextual and visual framework in which to posit his soaring international reputation. His oeuvre can be seen in the full scope of its development, from his early preoccupation with the genre of the Western and the suburban home, to his concern with institutional buildings, to his recent investigations into the relationships between social control and social structures. Clothbound hardcover, 176 pages, 9.5 x 12 inches, 48 color, 15 b&w, and 49 duotone illustrations. ... Read more

Amazon.com

It looks like a gorgeous nostalgia trip to judge by the cover imagealone. The photo is of an old school record player that lies unplugged, awhite label test-pressing waiting on the turntable, while a band of paperwrapped around the cover announces the title in ye olde woodblock-lookingtype, American Music. A reading of the small type on the back coverreveals the image to be the very record and turntable left in ElvisPresley’s bedroom the day he died, and the mind reels, thinking aboutwhether the King listened to this record on that day or not, and who are theStamps, anyway? An excellent selection of musician portraits interspersed with crumblywooden jook joints and wide open fields in the South, American Musiccovers a wide gamut of jazz, blues, punk, country, hip-hop, rock and roll,folk and gospel musicians. And while most of the pictures were shot between1999 and 2002, some go back to the early 1970s, when Leibovitz first becameRolling Stone magazine's chief photographer. Some of the artists arevery well-known (Michael Stipe, Dolly Parton, Bob Dylan) and some of themare not (Jessie Mae Hemphill, Other Turner, Carlos Coy). Leibovitz reallyhas a way of relaxing her performers, and this is a great part of her gift.Even when the pictures are so posed as to be ridiculous (like, what'sMichael Stipe doing on that bedbug-ridden mattress—-the guy's abillionaire?), she catches her subjects at their most "real."They are lostin their music, or just doing some "real person" thing (look, there is Beckin his car—does Beck really drive his own car?). The presentation may be alittle hokey, but this book is sure to please most any music fan.--MikeMcGonigal ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Classical?
OK, think for a minute what it means deep down to chronical AMERICAN music.
That would be music that comes from the Delta and from Chicago and spread from there as essential Blues, Jazz, Rock and Roll and later forms of Pop. Classical came to us from Europe, what these artists represent are the outcome of truly American born music. I'm staggered that anyone would not make that connection..
And yes, we know that some may find Iggy Pop "ugly", but American Music isn't all about chicks that look like Britney Spears..

Don't know what these other folks are talking about.
Gee. I've never heard that poor aesthetic quality is an essential element of art. I'm not even sure what "poor aesthetic quality" means. But if it describes the heartbreaking, iconic portrait of Johnny Cash and June Carter, then I surely want more of it. These are beautiful, sometimes funny and often emotionally moving pictures in which the subjects collaborate with the artist to present a certain face to the world. Maybe not all the faces are completely honest ones, but they're interesting and beautifully photographed.

Popular Music Gets Really Ugly
A few of the pictures here are very good, but for the most part, this presents Pop Music in the same manner that "Sunset Boulevard" portrayed the movie business. Most of the photos are dull (scores to choose from), moronic (The White Stripes, Eartha Kitt), or just plain ugly (Iggy Pop, Joni Mitchell, Johnny Cash,at least another dozen).

While some peeople argue that poor aesthetic quality is an essential attribute of "art", there is no excuse for the lack of technical competency shown here. Most of the photos here look like the work of a person who has no camera skills. If the bad aesthetics are deliberate, then it seems clear that the photographer regards musicians with great contempt, judging by how she portrays them here.

Pass on this, and just get copies of your favorite rock music magazines if you want a collection of good pictures.

What is Missing, Speaks Volumes!
This is more of an observation rather than a review... There isn't a single classical musician shown in this book.. I find that very depressing yet not totally unexpected. The title of this complication should really be Popular American Music. So many great classical American musicians such as Leonard Bernstein, to use one example who covered the entire musical spectrum, surely deserved a place in this book... ... Read more

Book Description

Philip Jones Griffiths, for a record five years the President of Magnum Photos, created in Vietnam, Inc. a record of the war there of almost Biblical proportions. No one who has seen it will forget its haunting images. In Agent Orange he has added a postscript that is equally memorable.

In 1960 the United States war machine concluded that an efficient deterrent to the enemy troops and civilians would be the devastation of the crops and forestry that afforded them both succour and cover for their operations. Initial descriptions of the scheme included "Food Denial Program", later adapted to "depriving cover for enemy troops". They gave the idea the name "Operation Hades", but were advised that "Operation Ranch Hand" was a more suitable cognomen for PR purposes.

The US had developed herbicides for the task. The most infamous became known as Agent Orange after the coloured stripe on the canisters used to distribute it. The planes that carried the canisters had 'only we can prevent forests!' as a logo on their fuselages. They were right. It was very effective.

Unfortunately the herbicide also contained Dioxin, probably the world's deadliest poison. In Agent Orange Philip Jones Griffiths has photographed the children and grandchildren of the farmers whose faces were lifted to the gentle rain of the poison cloud.

Some maintain that the connection between the maimed subjects of Griffiths' photographs and the exposure to Agent Orange is not scientifically established. However, the compensation payments made by the herbicide manufactures to those Americans sprayed in Viet Nam refute this assertion.

Historians will find it sufficient to say that there will always be collateral damage, that useful PR phrase, in war and that Philip Jones Griffiths should understand the consequences of martial endeavours. He most certainly does. He has catalogued here a pitiless series of photographs, and there can be no doubt that they should and will be recognized. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

The Black Book of American Infamy
For those already committed to voting for the so-called 'antiwar' candidate, I recommend putting this book in front of Sen. John Kerry and demanding to know what he will do as president to address American responsibility and pay reparations for the genocidal assault on the people of Vietnam. Such action will constitute a litmus test for this candidate, his "band of brothers" and future warriors about how the USA intends to solve the problem of terrorism. Will they acknowledge international law and prosecute the guilty parties including politicians, bureaucrats, executive military officers and defense contractors? Will they honor, finally, the Paris Accords and repair the ecocide brutally wrought upon the Vietnamese by their chemical weapons? Or will they continue to cover up a deliberate, malefic genocide by honoring war criminals like Kissinger and McNamara who now cries cinematic tears while his Pentagon successors plan the mass destruction of any nation that dares to oppose American hegemony?

Philip Jones Griffiths's AGENT ORANGE, COLLATERAL DAMAGE IN VIETNAM is a complex, dense statement that can be viewed and read several ways. Foremost, it is unquestionably the greatest work of photojournalism ever published. I do not make this statement lightly or without professional judgement. For twenty-five years, I edited the work of distinguished photojournalists -- Capa, Richards, Salgado, Peress, and Nachtwey among many others. Comparable only to W. Eugene Smith's MINIMATA: LIFE -- SACRED AND PROFANE, a passionate chronicle of the devastating effects of post-WW II industrial pollution on a Japanese town, AGENT ORANGE surpasses all previous attempts to synthesize the medium of still photography with historical documentation. Griffiths's masterly images unselfconsciously insert readers into the scene of an historical crime and guide them through the evidence page by excruciating page as a means to elicit direct testimony from the perpetrators and their victims. With the possible exception of Erich Maria Remarque' s ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, no other monograph so successfully confronts citizens with the folly of leaders who commit atrocities in their name. The stares of genetically deformed children struggling to articulate humanity across the threshold of pain and disability give absolute lie to the facile excuses of national security used by politicians to conduct high tech assault-and-battery on unwitting, innocent populations. Then it was Vietnam, today Iraq and Afghanistan.

Beginning with his eloquent book, VIETNAM INC. first published in 1971, Griffiths has pursued an unrelenting inquiry into the truth of violence and war. He reported from the Mekong Delta battlefront and also the brothels of Saigon. Returning years later, he earned the trust of farmers who had rebuilt their devastated villages with the detritus of war. Pushing his inquest further he located and photographed war orphans, now shunned as the miscegenated offspring of foreign invaders (DARK ODYSSEY, 1997). Infrequently supported by the mass media, Griffiths parlayed his skills as a commercial photographer to raise the cash necessary to return periodically to Southeast Asia, as if excavating its pitted landscape for some fragment of reason that might explain the macabre body counts and haunting trans-generational birth defects. Some photographers are celebrated for their commitments in documenting a family coming of age or the rise and fall of a nation. Journalism schools promote the virtues of in-depth or extended coverage (sometime a whole week!) while network and cable news personnel embrace the fame of sticking with a big story only to defer, in the final analysis, to the desire of corporate sponsors. By contrast Griffiths has the determination of a seasoned forensic scientist. Although no maverick, he has paid the price of banishment from the newspapers and magazines "of record" whose editors remain too frightened by management to commission or publish his work. Why would they want to remind subscribers of their own inaccuracies and slavish pandering to the official story?

In this respect, AGENT ORANGE can also be read for its scholarship because it presents new historical research about the manufacture and deployment of chemical weapons during the Vietnam era. It has been almost twenty years since American courts acknowledged the gravity of dioxin poisoning in rulings on lawsuits filed by military veterans. Yet companies who supplied the military with these chemical defoliants continue to falsify experimental data on their products' potential for birth defects. Our government stands mute on the issue of "peace with honor" and refuses to contribute any meaningful economic assistance, nonetheless stipulated in the treaty with Hanoi. The war's apologists and neoliberal ideologues continue to deride Vietnam as a failed socialist experiment. Griffith's photographs and words rip their lies to shreds and dissolve their chauvinism in the cold truth of twisted limbs, hare lips, and hydrocehpalic fetuses preserved in formaldehyde. AGENT ORANGE is the black book of American infamy, its author has given citizens a priceless instrument to test their politicians sincerity and commitment to peace. Buy a copy and ask Kerry for a clear statement of conscience!

The ticking "time bomb" uniting two cultures once at war.
In September, 1976, just back from eight years helping homeless streetchildren in Viet Nam, I wrote an Op/Ed piece for the New York Times ( "Learning From the Vietnamese -- And Giving", 12/04/76) that concluded: "And I'm at a loss how to tell my own people that Vietnam's needs are our remedy - to say that what the Vietnamese people have to offer us - as they did me - is so great that for our own sake we must help them." I was attempting to make a connection between the spiritual strengths the people of Viet Nam had to offer us and the technological assistance we, in turn, could give them. Philip Jones Griffiths, in his book "Agent Orange, 'Collateral Damage' in Viet Nam" has made an even more compelling, if depressing, case for interdependency, i.e., because of the American military's chemical spraying in south VN during the war years there are now thousands of people in both the U.S. and Viet Nam who are dealing with deformities and death because of a ticking "time bomb" planted in Indochina decades ago. Griffiths, author of "VIETNAM, INC.", an award-winning photography book on America's longest war, has included here some unsparing images of humans beings brutally deformed by man's more fiendish dalliance with Weapons of Mass Destruction. Here is a "legacy" that must give all of us pause by a brilliant photographer's tireless effort to bring almost unbearable evidence to us of man's inhumanity to man. Like the Holocaust itself, the full impact of these atrocities took years to come to the fore, but "Agent Orange" makes a compelling case that two countries once at war remain linked in a tragic bond that will not soon go away. This is not an easy book to read or, should I say, to view, but I think we ignore it at our peril. Griffiths knows what of he "speaks", having spent years in Indochina and seen un-speakable carnage firsthand. Here he has placed the evidence before us, as well as a precious opportunity to understand where we have gone wrong and how we may become better human beings in the future. "Agent Orange, 'Collateral Damage'", it almost goes without saying, may be the ultimate brief on America's own WMDs. - ---------------------------------------------------------------------

Masterfully photographed and written, poetic
Philip Jones Griffiths is among the unsung heroes of our time, photographing the otherwise untold, unsavory aspects of a mean-spirited war completely lacking in human decency. Agent Orange is masterfully conceived, researched, photographed and written in prose that at once is dark, beautiful poetry. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Though he is probably the world's most honored recent war photographer, James Nachtwey calls himself an "antiwar photographer," as the preeminent critic Luc Sante notes in his excellent foreword to Inferno, a landmark collection of 382 war-crime photos. Nachtwey has taken shrapnel and had his hair literally parted by a bullet, but he's never lost his compassionate outrage. The stunning images in this huge-format book--brutally abused Romanian orphans, Rwandan genocide victims, a rat-hunter family of Indian Untouchables barbecuing dinner, skeletal dehydration victims in Sudan, the miserable in Bosnia, Chechnya, Zaire, Somalia, and Kosovo--are excruciating to look at, yet impossible to tear your eyes away from. Nachtwey's art is meant to force us to face unbearable facts. Faces are the key: you can't gaze into the eyes of a Romanian toddler tied to a bed, or wired to a primitive "electromagnetic therapy" device, and not grasp the horror more fully than you would by watching a TV news item or reading a newspaper piece. (The book's text explains each photo's context.)

Inferno is also a masterpiece in strictly aesthetic terms. The power of Nachtwey's images transcends journalism. Bloody handprints on a living-room wall in Kosovo, the ghostly imprint of a Serb victim's vanished body on a floor, a Hutu with crazed eyes displaying the machete gashes he received for opposing the Tutsis' butchery, a howling orphan in a crib, one eye contracted in anger--these are compositions that depend, like Goya's, on the artist's skill as much as the subject's legitimate claim on our conscience.

Nachtwey's photographs make us capable of imagining that it could have happened to us. They are hard to forget, or forgive. --Tim Appelo ... Read more

Reviews (24)

Into the Fire
A book that is not for everyone, yet everyone should see it. These are the faces of death and despair, the tears of anti-war, the bravery of war, the fear of not living another day, the fear of living yet another day...the courage, the persistance, the failure to give up...the hurt, the pain, the tears, the anger..in the lives that nightmares are made of... When you look at the photographs, you will never be the same. Study them. Let them go to your heart. Cry for them. Then reach out to them. And never, never forget......when I went into the Inferno, I never realized the impact it would have. We can be so distant to the people, but in this book...they come into our lives, making us aware that the world can be a living hell. James Nachtwey did a fantastic job catching the lives that we so often want to pretend don't exist. I highly recommend this book to all. Step into the fire. We all need to see........

Pictures that will sear your mind and wound your soul
With this book/pictorial, it becomes quite clear, that yes indeed, a picture is worth a thousand words or more.... Each picture means more than any news report or article you've ever read... You see the evil in the world with a clarity rarely shown in few other works of media... When you look at these pictures, tears of anguish, tears of a simmering anger begin to well in your eyes... the question we all must ask ourselves, "How can we let this happen? and why does it happen?" No one should ever suffer like those people suffer in this book, and it is heartbreaking and disheartning to realize that so many Americans and others don't really give a darn enough to stand up and do something...

Il lato peggiore dell'uomo
E' impossibile trovare le parole per descrivere queste immagini. Sono fotografie che parlano da sole e colpiscono duro, lasciandoti solo, con mille domande, a cercare una risposta che è solo sussurrata nel vento....
Dedicato a tutti coloro che pensano che la guerra possa portare a qualcosa di buono.
Un grosso grazie a James Nachtwey che per fare quello che fa deve essere parecchie spanne sopra tutti noi...

Brings out emotions that have been hidden
Like many other reviewers, I think this collection of photos is beyond words.

It may sound cliche to say this book brings out emotions inside you that have been hidden or you never knew existed, but it is true.

I heard about this book and had seen a few of the images from it in a TIME issue from sometime ago. I found a copy and looked through it.....

I could not stop and finally took the copy and bought it...

It had seared itself into my mind and I needed to own a copy because I could not ever let myself forget that the images inside this book are real and to forget they exist or happen would be like losing part of my humanity.

Highly Recommended!!!

5-star pre-review
I don't know if you'll accept a review from someone who hasn't seen the entire collection yet, but I'm giving this book your highest rating. I recently witnessed "War Photographer", a documentary about Mr. Nachtwey and his work at The Human Rights Film Festival at New York's Lincoln Center and can't get his images out of my mind. He should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. ... Read more

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

If you ever wondered where the catwalk got its claws, then the portraits gathered in photographer Shoichi Aoki's book Fruits, from the streets of Harajuku in Tokyo, point the way to an extraordinarily imaginative and invariably stunning glut of mongrel fashion heists. A best-of collection from the fanzine of the same name, and published for the first time outside Japan, Fruits keeps its style clean: front-on, razor-sharp images, ranging from the deadpan to the manic, of the sharpest collages of sartorial influence that, usually, little money can buy. From off the peg to off the wall, kitsch to bitch, each person bears a combination and philosophy as distinctive as DNA. All shades of aesthetic are raided, with exquisite, scrupulous attention to detail. Punk is a favorite, as is, appropriately, Vivienne Westwood, alongside Milk and Jean-Paul Gaultier, and the occasional Comme des Garçons. Many of the outfits, though, are second-hand or self-assembly, such as a skirt drooping petals of men's silk ties, Wa-mono, when tradition Japanese clothes are topped with, say, an authentic bowler hat, EGL (elegant gothic Lolita), and a swathe of tartans, pinks, and turquoises. The most malleable feature, unsurprisingly, is hair, with dreadlocks, mohicans, back-combing, and crops dyed an irradiated spectrum. While the eye is drawn, obediently, to the mannequins, the background is often worth a look, either for the vending machines against which a number are shot, or the ubiquitous Gap store and bags, a constant reminder of the global mass market.

One enterprising man wears a genuine British paperboy's delivery bag, and, to pick but one profile, Princess, 18, is trying to be a doll and is currently preoccupied with body organs. Mmm. All the subjects are asked the source of their clothes, as well as their "point of fashion" and "current obsession." The scope for sociopsychological discussion is vast, particularly with the preponderance of infantilization, through dolls, bonnets, pop socks, and Barbie, but this is a joyous documentation of the innovative, celebrating the inspirational polytheism of street fashion, captured with provocative, political zeal. Best let the street cats prowl. --David Vincent ... Read more

Reviews (48)

Truly captures how young Japanese Teens dress
After visiting Japan last year and having spent most of my time in Harajuku (where most of these pix were taken)--all i can say is this book truly captures how young Japanese teens dress. Hypercolored clothing, crazy extreme mismatching, a gaggle of plastic accessories, technotoys and unnatural hair color is standard-- it's anime character meets candyraver meets barbie in Super Mario land.

You may think these teens are the few "extreme" dressers in their society, but you're wrong. I would estimate that 80% of teens in Japan's metro areas dress this way, if not more extreme.

In fact, the teens in Fruits are a bit *subtle* compared to what is going on in Japanese fashion today. It's not uncommon to see girls in elaborate french maid outfits with metallic makeup walking out of the train station. Walking everywhere you see these hello kitty psycho sweethearts, riddled with fake blonde hair, white lipstick, and mile-high op-art platforms. I've turned a corner and seen gangs of japanese guys and girls looking like Bob Marley and Lauryn Hill, replete with fake black tan, dreads, ghetto fabulous hip hop gear and all. Scrupulous attention is paid to every part of the body. Only about 5% of Japanese girls i observed did NOT wear some kinda of intricate rainbow patterned/bejeweled nail art. And the best part is seeing all these vividly dressed youths swarming all around you in hordes.

Fruits, although on target for year 2001, is almost out of style now, given that Japanese fashion trends change every minute. If you can't get enough of Fruits, then you really need to take a trip to Japan (Tokyo) which I stress is vital for anyone in the fashion, arts, or other trend industry. It's like living in the future--talking toilets, automatic servamatrons, futurism galore, towns called Sunshine City, bridges named Rainbow Bridge--it's pop-culture infantilism crossbred with sophisticated technology, the most fascinating hybrid found only in Japan. I guarantee you will be visually stimulated and inspired to no end at the hallucinatory flourescence that is Japanese youth culture. Now go book that ticket.

Eye popping fashion passion (with a healthy does of humor)
From the highly worshipped pages of Japan's premiere street fashion bible comes FRUITS, from the magazine of the same name, created and photographed by Shoichi Aoki. From its beginning in 1994, FRUITS magazine covered the wide world of street fashions sported by young Japanese crowd of the Tokyo suburbs. This edition of FRUITS, from Phaidon publishing, is a collection of full page portraits from the magazine. It's the first time many of these images have been published in the western world.

Be prepared to enter the wild and wacky world of Japanese street style; a mixture of thrift store chic, designer handbags and accessories, anime and manga color, traditional Japanese clothing and home created "couture", sure to grab your attention, if not to make you laugh out loud. Creativity and ideas abound (notice I didn't say they were all "good" ideas.) Witness fever pitched fashion passion, eye popping cartoon creations worn with complete self confidence. Getting your picture in FRUITS magazine is your fashion street cred badge of honor, and these kids pursue it with all the style muscle they can muster.

Rasta cowboys, EGL (elegant gothic Lolita) baby dolls, anime space cadets, rockabilly punks, designer samurais; these are but a few of the style hybrids on display. Mixing vintage finds, designer labels (like W<, Jean Paul Gaultier and the prolific influence of Vivienne Westwood), and their own customized experiments, these Japanese teens create a world where the only limit to style is their own imagination.

You need this book. It's that good.

Fruits is a Fraud
Fruits purports to be photos of people picked at random from the streets based on their unusual outfits. In my opinion, all the subjects are models, dressed by a designer. Maybe they thought that westerners would not notice that all or most of the women and men subjects are photographed more than once. Some show up again and again. In my opinion, the photographs are staged and the outfits are not the creations of the people who are photographed. Notice too, how all the outfits are top notch from head to toe. You would expect to see a few ugly or poor decisions if the photos were of real people. Take a look if you are interested in how to try and dupe the public.

Selling Japanese Fruit to the World
I love the work by my fellow photographer Shoichi Aoki. Like me, he shoots the cool trendsetters on the streets of Tokyo. Since he started his magazine FRUITS in the mid-90s he has taken countless of photographs of the coolest street fashion that the world has seen sofar. The best of these shots are compiled in this book.

Aoki first started documenting street fashion in London in the mid 80's. He has told me that he taught himself how to take photographs from books. At the time Japanese fashion wasn't free at all. Inspired by the free street fashion of London the young Aoki decided he wanted to do something about Japanese staleness.

In the early to mid 90's things were beginning to change in Japan. The Harajuku area in Tokyo had its main thoroughfare closed off on Sundays and this was attracting more and more bands and show offs. The 'pedestrian heaven' (hokoten) as it was called became a laboratory and incubation center for new trends in music and fashion.

"In Japan," Aoki told me recently, "everybody had always dressed the same. Whatever was popular was worn by everyone. Everybody would wear Comme des Garçons or Ivy or whatever brand was 'in'. But suddenly Harajuku became free. People started to feel that it was cool to coordinate your own clothes. Harajuku fashion became really interesting and fun." He recalls: "You had this small group of trendsetters, perhaps 10 to 20 people. Whenever they came up with something new, others would soon imitate them. But these imitators weren't as cool as the original trendsetters so the trendsetters didn't want to be identified with them."

"To differentiate themselves again they came up with new things. It just escalated. They kept on trying to escape from their imitators right into "decora" (fashion style sporting lots of decorative stuff and strong bright colors). They figured nobody would follow them into wearing clothes that crazy."

FRUITS shows these 'crazy' trends in all their details. The book has virtually no text, just page after page of exquisitely printed color photographs. Aoki's photographs are unique in that he shows the full body, from head to toe, in actual street situations. This is much better than shots done in the studio. It is like photographing animals in the wild opposed to photographing them in the zoo.

Full body shots makes it possible to not only see the pants, skirts, dresses, coats and sweaters, but also the shoes, socks, stockings, hats and wild hairdos in all their glory.

Short descriptions explain what each person is wearing, their age and their 'obsession'.

If you want to put to rest the myth that Japanese people are not creative and original, you just have got to read this book. You'll find it a great inspiration.

Fruits
This book rocks the crazy street styles. Great source for design for anime or comic book characters. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Charming & Amazing
I am so happy I found a book with plentiful Glamour photos. I especially love the Norma Shearer pics and the Rosalind Russell pics (especially the rather gothic cloak pic.) This book is not only insightful about how the pics were done but who Hurrell was. Truly beautiful and a must for any coffee table and/or collector.

I'm very happy to have this book in my library
Once upon a time, I was reading Empire magazine and suddenly I saw a promotion of The book Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits. The cover picture was very impressive. I didn't know George Hurrell before. As soon as I saw the picture, I decided to buy this book. So, after buying it and see the pictures inside, I just said: Wow! What a photographer he was. He's a genius. His works are magnificent. Great use of light and remarkable composition are the typical of his works. Definitly he's a master in the art of photography. You can find many fabulouse black & white photoes of your beloved actors and actresses in 30s and 40s as well as an interesting and useful biography of Hurrell. If you love cinema you won't regret after buying it. Your library misses this book.

GORGEOUS
This book is just filled with gorgeous photographs, in a beautifully dramatic and romantic style that is often missing in the photographs taken in more recent times. A wonderful book for photographers looking for a little inspiration, or those who have had a surfeit of the modern, photojournalistic approach to portraiture. Look at the light, the composition, and the drama! As photographers, we've shown these images to prospective bridal clients, who thought they only wanted "candids" taken at their wedding - "very few posed images" - who summarily changed their minds about "stuffy posed photography." Many of our portrait clients, who came to sessions loathing the idea of having to pose for the camera have found themselves having so much fun they don't want to stop when we've introduced some of the more dramatic poses similar to those used by Hurrell in a session. This book is also a bonanza for movie buffs - to see images of a young Joan Crawford, BEFORE retouching, freckles and all, and then to see the results of Hurrell's handiwork, is fun for fans -and his techniques impress those of us who do this for a living.

Luminous and informative
I am not too familiar with the Golden Age of Hollywood, but I am entranced by the pictures of stars like Jean Harlow. Hurrell was a master of portraiture, using light in the most effective way possible.

My favorite pictures are of Harlow, Crawford, and Dietrich. I took a black and white photography course in college, so I deeply appreciate the virtuoso style of Hurrell. I am equally impressed with the information the author included about how these pictures were taken. This book doubles as a nice "coffee table" book and an instructional manual.

For book every Portrait Photographers Library
A wonderfully written book which follows Hurrells life before, during and after Hollywood's golden years. Hurrell's huge ego dealing with Hollywood's huge egos make for great reading. His genius behind the camera is represented in the beautiful photographs printed throughout the book. As a person who enjoys reading biographies, I feel this book would appeal not just to photographers, but to Hollywood history buffs as well. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

A thought-provoking collection of Mapplethorpe's sex picture
This collection of pictures is bound in a good quality cover and printed on a glossy paper of reasonable quality.

The images themselves are, in the main, sex pictures; S&M pictures; and a few portraits. The sex pictures are quite grotesque, concentrating as they do on the pain, blood, urine, bondage and so on. Whether you'll enjoy these depends on your view of the subject. Personally, I didn't find them uplifting or illuminating. The models were sullen, looked unhappy, or downright sad: but then I suppose if your... has been nailed to a plank you're entitled to be a little shaken!

The few portraits included in this volume were entirely unpleasing, and not representative of Mapplethorpe's better work. They offered no real insight ot the subjects, who remained cold and aloof, detached it seems from the process of making art.

This is a collection of many of Mapplethorpe's more 'sensational' and 'shocking' images. Whether you are affronted or not they do deserve inspection, if only to see what the 'conservatives' tried to ban. You might actually feel repulsed and agree that these pictures are not art but pornography.

One word: Ouch
You can always debate whether this book is "art" or not, but the fact is I am worried about what happened to some of the subjects. Helmut? Are you okay? I think Mapplethorpe wanted to shock, and he did, but I found the pictures had too much pain in them to be appreciated. I was deadened to what Mapplethorpe wanted to say, if he wanted to say anything at all. Ouch, ouch, ouch.

very good book
artistic and powerful, i recommend it

Art Or Trash? The Book Which Will Decide Your Vote!
Probably the most reviled book at Amazon because of its sexual explictness of the "out there" gay life led before AIDS, complete with bondage, S&M and even torture. Yet Mapplethorpe was artist enough to make many of the images compelling and haunting plus horrific yet eye/heart stopping. There are even self portraits of Mapplethorpe at the height of his own physical beauty before he too would be ravaged and killed by AIDS. I come down solidly on the side of the "This is art" contenders but caution you that this book is not for the rigid, the squeamish or minors. Mapplethorpe captured an extreme moment in time, when controversial sexual behavior came out to the public and shoved itself in the public's face, clamoring to be viewed and defying us to look away. I, for one, could not look away.

Another Posthumous success, whether you like it or not!
This is a fabulous collection of the very subject matter that turned the art world on end. These pictures, however explicit and extreme in subject matter push the more important issue of artistic freedom. Without this freedom we all suffer. Censorship has somehow told us that we can be harmed by the images we look at...more harmful is the forced conformity that ensues when creativity is left for others to decide what is or isn't done in the name of artistic freedom. Having left his flowers and portraits in their own respective niches, his artistic freedom rings clear as a bell with this collection. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Did the clothes make Jackie, or did Jackie make the clothes? Decide for yourself: Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years is a stunning catalog of some of Jacqueline Kennedy's most important dresses as worn during her years as first lady of the United States. As visually sleek and elegant as Mrs. Kennedy herself, the book offers a beautiful analysis of the stunning, simple outfits that typified the Jackie style and brought a breath of sleek modernity to the White House after the somewhat frumpy fussiness of previous first lady Bess Truman. Released to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Kennedy's "emergence" as a style icon, the book presents an eclectic selection of suits, evening dresses, daywear, and accessories from the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum collection. Divided into cities where each item was first worn, the gowns, suits, and dresses are first presented alone in a full-page color photo. Each is then accompanied by various photos of Jackie wearing the item and detailed design notes, history, and anecdotes behind the outfit.

These photos give a wonderful context to the clothes, and it's clear that Jackie's carriage and persona injected life into these garments--which sometimes appear markedly different from what one might deduce as each item's "personality" when simply viewing it alone. For example, a pale cream embroidered silk Givenchy evening gown looks dull and somewhat dowdy when seen alone, but the accompanying photograph of Jackie wearing it while cuddling a newborn John Kennedy Jr. transforms the dress into something feminine and timeless. Or a very simple, innocently pretty pink shantung evening gown by Guy Douvier becomes arrestingly sexy when she wears it with nothing but white gloves and a Palm Beach tan. Contextualizing and interpreting Kennedy's style is an important part of this book. Featured are essays on Jackie and her effect on the world of style by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Kennedy friend Rachel Lambert Mellon, and the book's author and Vogue editor at large, Hamish Bowles. Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years accompanies an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. --Marisa Lencioni, Amazon.co.uk ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Jacqueline Chic
This is a "must have" book for anyone who loves the beauty, style and grace of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, fashion and history. The beautiful fashion photography with insightful essays showcases the former First Lady as one of the 20th century's fashion icons. Her clothing, simple and modern, yet classically elegant, created by major designers of the time such as Oleg Cassini and Givenchy, reflects her visionary fashion savvy. This book will make you ask do clothes make a person, or does the inner soul and outer beauty of a person, such as the former First Lady, make the clothes?

MOST EXCELLENT
Excellent EVERYTHING!!!
A must for jackie AND caroline fans...i figure she did a lot for this and chose some GREAT photos...esp. the last one, in my humble opinion.
THE BEST PHOTOGRAPHY!!!
I LOVE IT!!! and was shocked when i actually saw it after the few not-so appreciative reviews.
TOP SHELF BOOK/TOMB.
THANKS to everyone who was behind putting this out. As my grandmother would say about such a great book, "It lifts you up." (she said that about the Sotheby's Auction catalog of JBKO's Estate.
THANKS and LOVE TO ALL!!!

Quality, Youth, Beauty, Style and Culture in the White House
Caution: If you like looking at lots of photographs of early 1960s designer dresses, you will probably like this book. Otherwise, this is probably not the right book for you.

During the presidential election of 1960, Ms. Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy made an immense impression on American society. At 31, she was a dramatic contrast with the vice president's wife, Ms. Patricia Nixon, and recent first ladies (Ms. Mame Eisenhower, Ms. Bess Truman, and Ms. Eleanor Roosevelt). She was much younger than these women, was pregnant with her son, John, and seemed like someone who came from another world. Ms. Kennedy was highly cultured, interested in the fine arts, attractive in a way that showed up well in photographs and on television, and wore gorgeous clothes of the sort usually only seen in the best fashion magazines.

Once in the White House, her differences from other first ladies became more apparent. A major effort to redecorate the White House with authentic pieces ensued, Lafayette Square's appearance was conserved, entertaining began to feature people from the world of fine arts, the Rose Garden was redesigned, and the clothes she wore became even more magnificent. A great deal of the sense of Camelot certainly came from Ms. Kennedy.

I was disappointed in the book. For someone who had such a wide and important influence on America, the book barely seemed to scratch the surface. It is almost as though a decision had been made to create a book about her dresses on state occasions, and to mention and show all of the other influences she had as little as possible.

This book minimally and partially captures the impact she had on our national consciousness. The best essay is found in the foreword by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. who provides a good overview of the influence of Ms. Kennedy (as described above) and her husband, the president, more broadly on the arts (including efforts that helped lead to the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and providing a temple from Egypt to the Metropolitan Museum in New York). Most of the book is visually devoted to her clothing during state occasions, with notes about those who created the clothes. A typical section has color photographs of the clothing on mannequins, Ms. Kennedy wearing the clothes at an event, and a black-and-white image of how she appeared in the context of the whole event.

The clothing captures what was called at the time, the Jackie look. Most of the dresses are by Oleg Cassini, Givenchy, Chez Ninon, and Gustave Tassell. There are also lots of examples of her hats (often pillboxes by Halston). The outfits are usually as simple and conservative as possible in solid colors, made special by perhaps one elegant bow or sash. Unfortunately, these sections have little material about Ms. Kennedy's views on these apparel, designs for the clothing, or thoughts about how to coordinate them with shoes and accessories.

What was most impressive to me was the success with which she selected outfits that fit in with the nations she was visiting. In France, the elegance of Givenchy enveloped her. In India, bright pastel shades made her look like part of the jungle flora. I'm sure the host nations were delighted to see their specialness magnified in her efforts to be an attractively dressed guest.

But these clothes are unremarkable without Ms. Kennedy. Like a well-known fashion model, she enhanced the clothes enormously with her youth, vitality, personality, and trim figure. So, for me, the book's real value was in seeing the many photographs of Ms. Kennedy. I especially liked the candid photographs, either talking with guests or playing with her children.

How can we recapture a sense of uniquely American style and good taste in ways that will bring approval?

What are the ways that the president and first spouse should set a good example for the rest of us?

An elegant blast from the past!
When I took this tome out of its mailer & began to turn its pages, I suddenly remembered my own set of formal white cotton gloves - long since discarded - so reverential was the aura emanating from this glossy artbook.

Jacqueline Kennedy kept it simple - most of her clothes were in solid colors with only huge buttons, cockades or discreet stylized bows, scarves, shawls or frogs for detail. In the Travel Chapter we see the simplicity of her wardrobe & her passion for colors.

Combining original & new photographs, this volume presents images we have rarely seen, as well as photos that have become a part of our national consciouness. The final one of the President & First Lady together in the open touring auto needs no words - we all know what happened next.

Certainly a treasure of memories - where we were, what we wore, what we wished we could wear. I never realized how Mrs. Kennedy acquired her wardrobe assuming, incorrectly, that she always wore top-of-the-line haute couture - when in actuality she wore "knock-offs", sometimes chosen by her mother-in-law.

For anyone who cannot make the pilgrimage to the 40th Anniversary Exhibition at the John F. Kennedy Library & Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York & who craves visions of those much-mimicked fashions of yesteryear.

An unexpected pleasure
After reading some of the reviews for this book stating it was dull and offered nothing of particular interest except alot of talk about A line dresses and cuts on the bias, I was apprehensive about wasting so much money on it.However having bought nearly every book published on Mrs Onassis I went ahead and ordered it anyway.Upon opening it I was pleasantly surprised. It was well set out,interesting and with many fine photos I had not seen, to illustrate the somewhat dry text.But the most facinating aspect of this book is to actually see what these dresses looked like in colour....after seeing numerous black and white photos of the Kennedy reception at the Elysee Palace and to hear the pink straw dress worn by Mrs kennedy described, it was mesmerizing to actually see it...no wonder she was described as radiant....and the most amazing thing is that Mrs kennedy dresses were sometimes even more interesting when viewed from the back...the intricate drapery and patterns.The photo of her in a backless sundress on the Italian Riveria is a revelation as it was worn in 1962 and was so ahead of its time...this book shows that Jacqueline kennedy had true style and is worthy of the mantle of fashion icon even though she would probably want to be remembered for her more substancial contributions.A very worthwhile addition to any devotee's library ... Read more

Book Description

This dynamic, sumptuous, and captivating volume is a celebration of the human body, its weight, its frailty, its strangeness, and its beauty. Fine art destined to capture the popular imagination, Body Knots is a collection of visually compelling photographs of bodies.

Page after provocative page, Schatz transforms his nudes- all beautifully colorized in vibrant saturated tones as well as metallic ink-into a wild variety of forms, from the headless to the humorous, from the footless to the fantastic, from the sensual to the sardonic. Twisted, turned, and seen from different perspectives, these bodies take on shapes and contortions one would not dream possible.

Created by a master photographer, Body Knots is an extraordinary volume displaying the human body at its most malleable yet articulate, rendering it as familiar as arrestingly new. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Disappointing
I love Howard Schatz photography. He has created memorable imagry with his "Passion and Line" and "Water Dance" books. "Body Knots" is an evolution of "Pool Light" which was a sequel to "Water Dance". But not all evolution is happy or successful.

This book is far too gimmicky for my taste and I think Mr.Schatz is capable of far more creative imagry than this. How many of these images will appear in Madison Ave. advertising over the next year? Or is that the real goal here? One wonders. Perhaps if Mr.Schatz would have remained in California rather than moving to New York his artistic goals would not have been seduced by the scent of advertising contracts. I don't begrudge an artist trying to earn money but Mr.Schatz was a very successful surgeon before taking up lenswork full time--he isn't a starving artist.

What strikes me about "Body Knots" is that it is more a graphic arts presentation than it is fine art photography. Mr. Schatz, please go back and look at "Passion and Line" and "Water Dance". You created something wonderful there. Remember your motives?

Stunning Visual Images
If you're standing in a bookstore with a copy of Howard Schatz' new Body Knots in your hand, turn to Knot No. 184 near the end of the book. This image, one of my favorites, is a sly, humorous, enchanting image. Now you're hooked, right? But still not sure if you want to purchase the book ? Then turn to Knot 114 near the middle. This glorious, ingenious, repetition of the human form, part microscopic investigation, part seductive image, provides another reason to believe that Schatz is one of the most interesting, original, creative photographers at work today. In a stunning series of books, covering such themes as homelessness and the endlessly seductive charms of the human body, Schatz has opened our eyes to new ways of looking at the possibilities of photography. Body Knots, one of his most creative works, is a book for anyone who wants to be an artist, who wants to understand spatial possibilities, and, especially, wants to laugh over the imaginative limits of form and vision. This is one of those books that will make you look at the world differently.

Body Knots is a must have for photo & art fans
Today I was able to flip through a copy of the new photo book, "Body Knots" by Howard Schatz the photographer whose previous book, "Pool Light" is one of the most daring and beautiful photography books I have ever seen.

Most photographers would continue treading down the same artistic path, but not Howard Schatz aparently.

Body Knots is a collection of photos of humans entwined to make all sorts of puzzling shapes and images in the most beautiful color schemes and light.

There are collages of these strange, ambiguously naked images that create landscapes of the most surreal nature.

You don't even realize that you are staring at multicolored nudes entangled. The images seem more like alien shapes.

This is a coffee table book that people will flip through repeatedly and enjoy in a unique manner with each viewing.

Body Knots is a fun, and beautiful book that celebrates the human body with humor and new perceptions and challenges the viewer to rethink how they see things.

I know what I am giving as a gift for the rest of this year. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

After his bestselling book Déja vu, Jean-Baptiste Mondino presents his equally mesmerizing sequelTwo Much. His photographs, digitally processedpictures, and video clips radically changed thecommercial strategies of the rock, pop and fashionindustry and made him the image guru of the young generation. Presenting Mondino‘s creative outputof the past five years, Two Much bears strikingwitness to the delight he takes in playing withzeitgeist expressions and to his boundless ingenuity. Technically brilliant, with an equally rich and scin-tillating mix of black humor, glamour, and bizarre erotic visions, Two Much is an essential source of inspiration for all those who by profession or bypassion deal with photography, advertising, andlife style. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Few individuals have exerted as profound an influence on 20th-century American art and culture as Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946). This luxurious two-volume boxed set is the definitive catalogue of the Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Photographs at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, the most complete Stieglitz holding in existence, donated to the gallery by his widow, artist Georgia O'Keeffe.

Numbering 1,642 photographs, the collection represents the full range of the master photographer's work-from early studies made in Europe, to views of the majestic New York skyline, to incomparable intimate portraits of O'Keeffe. Coinciding with a major traveling exhibition and providing complete scholarly apparatus and a chronology, this sumptuous volume demonstrates how Stieglitz absorbed the most advanced artistic concepts of his time into photography and transformed the medium forever. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (8)

Great informative and entertaining book!
As far as I'm concerned, this is a must have 4th book to the Ansel Adams series of The Camera, The Negative and The Print. It is very informative to read about not only the circumstances in which Adams made these black and white photographs, but also some of the technical and even emotional factors.

Great reading for anyone interested in photography (mostly landscapes and medium and large format).

The book and photographs are well printed and seems sturdy.

Superb Case Studies
If you want to learn photography and you would prefer to learn (or supplement your learning) by intensive case study, this is the book for you. Ansel Adams is a master at controlling composition, light and perspective, and he conveys his unique methodology admirably in this book. This book covers much more than his epic landscapes -- there are a lot of still life, portrait and architectural case studies. And he's not just discussing the zone system, but also everything else involved, including packing the right equipment, leaving at the right time, and hunting down the right subject. And above all, patience and persistence. The photos themselves are reproduced with admirable tone, sharpness, and contrast, as they are in all the books in this series. And although there are only forty of them, each case study runs two or three pages in addition to a full page photo. And if you like this, check out Ansel Adams' classic three part intensive introduction to photography, in the same series as this book: The Camera, The Print, and The Negative.

How Did You Make That Photograph, Mr. Adams?
An essential book for all photography fans!

In 1983, Ansel Adams picked 40 of his most memorable and diverse black and white photographs as examples of his work. For each one he wrote a brief essay that described the circumstances of deciding to photograph the subject, how he came to prepare for the photography, his companions, special challenges that occurred along the way, how he selected the composition, tricky light and shadow conditions encountered, technical details of how the image was captured (equipment, film speeds, settings, filters, lenses, etc.), technical details of printing the image, and the surprises he experienced.

In the midst of all this, he shares his philosophy of life, nature, and the art of photography. It's like attending a master class with a genius. Even if you know nothing about photography, this book will open your eyes to new ways of seeing and experiencing the world around you.

For those who love these images, the stories that accompany them will broaden and deepen your appreciation of what Mr. Adams accomplished. If you are not a technically-oriented photographer or fan, realize that only about 20 percent of the material is primarily technical. The technical parts are very interesting, but the rest of the material is even better.

Mr. Adams did draw the line at one point though. "Absent from these pages [is] a statement of what the photograph 'means.'" His reason: "Only the print contains the artist's meaning and message." In other words, the work should speak to you for itself.

He does point out some limits to his essays that you should keep in mind. He often doesn't remember when he made a particular photograph. Friends would remind him that a certain print was published in a certain publication in 1934 and he had dated it as 1936 elsewhere. He also did not keep notes of how he made the image after the negative was developed. So all of the technical notes and dates are probably off a little. That's all right in many cases. You are not a historian, and you are probably not going to use glass plates. Modern equipment is much different from what Adams used, so you will be making major adjustments anyway.

His style of photography was one adventure after another. You'll be climbing with him through snow-clad forests in freezing weather, and suddenly he's down to his last exposure. Which filter should he use?

In fact, in many cases, Adams was gambling on how the image would turn out because he would not get a second chance. It's like reading a detective story, in which the story begins with a flashback sequence of how the mystery ends, like Sunset Boulevard, because the finished image is there is its duotone beauty.

In other cases, the experiences of Edward Weston helped him avoid mistakes. As a result, you get to see his delightful, dramatic images of dunes in Death Valley.

As usual, the Little, Brown pages are often too small for the images. Despite my annoyance at this limitation, I did not grade the book down since the essays are so wonderful (of more than five-star interest) and are the real reason for reading and examining this book.

I would suggest that you read The American Wilderness before reading this book. That will give you a context for understanding what Mr. Adams is talking about in these essays. The essays assume a certain level of familiarity with the people, philosophies, and locations involved. The American Wilderness can provide that background for you.

After you have swum in these wonderful stories, I suggest that you write an essay about something you have done that contains high drama and meaning. Then share that essay with someone who would appreciate know the whole story. How can others learn as rapidly and as well as possible if your experiences (successful and unsuccessful) are lost?

Keep your mind open for opportunity! It's all around you!

One word... Inspiring!
Forget "...every photographers library..." This should be in every library. It's one of the ten best books I've ever read. Yes, I'm an amateur photographer but this book is way deeper and of so much more value than just knowing which f-stop he used.

This is a beautifully illustrated book of short stories chronicling the adventures of a master as he passionately pursues his craft. It's a love story with nature. If this book doesn't inspire you to climb a mountain or to sit beside a stream for a few hours, I don't know what will. If it also inspires you to photograph your little corner of creation, there's plenty of insight in these pages as well.

Technically Helpful and Entertaining to Read
This book is an inspiration for all of us whose photos don't look like they were taken by Ansel Adams. It shows the painstaking effort that went into some of his great photographs, and the sheer luck that captured others.

The technical descriptions are very interesting and helpful for anyone who wonders how such great prints were made. The more personal stories behind finding the images really give you a sense of what it means to make great photographs. Add in Ansel Adams' personal feelings about the art of photography and you've got a book every photographer should read. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Richard shares his quest with us all
Richard has access to places most people do not. Take, for example, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. His Holiness is not accessable to you and I on the level that Richard has. Richard shares private photos, such as plate 63 where His Holiness is in meditation. The photo alone portrays a depth of intensity that the experience offers. Richard also has a true sense of the tragedy of the Tibetan people and can deliver that in a light that few people can ever grasp, even after several trips to the region. Richard is the Pilgrim and we are fortunate to be able to see things in a way he does. Very few photographers can say that of their work. Perhaps it is due to his experience in film, perhaps as a result of his practice as a buddhist, maybe just because the openness of his sharing is felt in his work, regardless of the medium. Thank you my friend for sharing your life with us and a wonderful book.

Truly inspirational!
This is a fantastic book! The photographs stir a number of emotions in you. Only a true artist like Mr. Gere could convey these feelings and capture them in his shutter. The book also features excellent text and was a very nice present. I think everyone should peek at this book. A great book for religious souls and open minds.

These images broke my heart.
This book was exactly what I expected from such a sensitive and intelligent man. Thank you, Mr. Gere. We need our hearts broken now and then.

pictures of compassion
I cannot look at this book without crying. It is very beautiful yet pierces my heart with sadness, I believe that the plight of Tibet is the canary of our planet. This book is about an amazing and gentle people and my hope and prayer is that it will generate more compassion . The text is very direct and simple and is not next to the photos but at the back. One quote stuck in my mind, "It's all ego." You can see these photos with your heart and they will melt it, if you are open.

Pictures with soul
The pictures are not supposed to show images but meanings. That's exactly what they do. They are visual metaphors, inviting us to see what is not visible. The first one, more than any other, in its deep beauty, allows us to catch a glimpse of a spiritual state or an epiphany. If I had taken it I would feel forced to share it with everyone, as Mr. Gere kindly did. ... Read more

Book Description

In Sticks & Stones, Lee Friedlander offers his view of America as seen through its architecture. In 192 square-format pictures shot over the past 15 years, Friedlander has framed the familiar through his own unique way of seeing the world. Whether he's representing modest vernacular buildings or monumental skyscrapers, Friedlander liberates them from our preconceived notions and gives us a new way of looking at our surrounding environment. Shot during the course of countless trips to urban and rural areas across the country, many of them made by car (the driver's window sometimes providing Friedlander with an extra frame), these pictures capture an America as unblemished by romanticized notions of human nature as it is full of quirky human touches. Nevertheless, man's presence is not at stake here; streets, roads, façades, and buildings offer their own visual intrigue, without reference to their makers. And in the end, it is not even the grand buildings themselves that prick our interest, but rather the forgettable architectural elements--the poles, posts, sidewalks, fences, phone booths, alleys, parked cars--that through photographic juxtaposition with all kinds of buildings help us to discover the spirit of an Architectural America.

No living artist is more in touch with the look and feel of American towns and cities than Lee Friedlander.--James Enyeart Essays by James Enyeart.

Clothbound, 11.75 x 12.75 in. / 216 pgs / 192 duotones. ... Read more

Book Description

Stephen Green-Armytage, author/photographer of Abrams' enchanting Dudley: The Little Terrier That Could, has now produced a unique adult book, introducing the bizarre and beautiful world of exotic ornamental chickens. His startling pictures present an international selection of breeds ranging from the Bearded Silkie and the crested Polish to the majestic Phoenix, whose tail feathers can exceed 10 feet in length.

Chickens of all sizes, shapes, and colors parade through these pages, as Green-Armytage captures the surprising and expressive personality of these amazing birds. For breeders, this will be a volume they must own; for everyone else, it will be a revelation, prized for the sheer enjoyment of the striking photographs and the extraordinary animals they portray.

STEPHEN GREEN-ARMYTAGE's photographs have appeared in many books and magazines. Author and photographer of the Abrams book Dudley: The Little Terrier That Could, he lives in New York City.

165 photographs, 160 in full color, 9 x 10" ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Extraordinary is absolutely correct!
If you have any interest in beautiful birds of any species, I suspect you will like this book. The photography is of the highest quality and Mr. Green-Armytage has a wonderful way of presenting the birds as special characters, not j