There are so many good books out there... Unfortunately we cannot
buy them all. Depending on our preferences and needs we all make
different choices. It was hard to make ours but we have decided that the
10 fine art photography books that we would recommend you to buy are:
1 - Sebastiao Salgado: Genesis
If you like the work of Sebastiao Salgado there is absolutely no doubt
that you will love his latest book. What does one discover in Genesis?
The ancient animal species and volcanoes of the Galápagos; penguins, sea
lions, cormorants, and whales of the Antarctic and South Atlantic;
Brazilian alligators and jaguars; African lions, leopards, and
elephants; the isolated Zo’é tribe deep in the Amazon jungle; the Stone
Age Kurowai people of West Papua; nomadic Dinka cattle farmers in Sudan;
Nenet nomads and their reindeer herds in the Arctic Circle; Mentawai
jungle communities on islands west of Sumatra; the icebergs of the
Antarctic; the volcanoes of Central Africa and the Kamchatka Peninsula;
Saharan deserts; the Negro and Juruá rivers in the Amazon; the ravines
of the Grand Canyon; the glaciers of Alaska... and beyond. Having gone,
quite literally in some cases, where no man has gone before, and having
spent so much time, energy, and passion dedicated to the making of this
work, Salgado likens Genesis to “my love letter to the planet.”
2 - Garry Winogrand
If you have missed the exhibition of Garry Winogrand or want to keep a
souvenir of this incredible event the book of the SFMOMA is a must have.
When he died suddenly at age 56, Winogrand left behind thousands of
rolls of exposed but undeveloped film and unedited contact sheets — some
250,000 frames in total. Nearly 100 of these pictures have been printed
for the first time for this long-awaited retrospective of his work. By
presenting such archival discoveries alongside celebrated pictures,
Garry Winogrand reframes a career that was, like the artist's America,
both epic and unresolved. This exhibition has been jointly organized by
SFMOMA and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, and will travel to
the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Jeu de Paume in Paris, and
Fundación MAPFRE in Madrid.
All about Gary Winogrand
3 - Bill Brandt: Shadow and Light
Even if you already have a book with Bill Brandt's work, you won't
regret buying this one. The MOMA did a fantastic work with the quality
of reproductions and texts. Bill Brandt was the preeminent British
photographer of the twentieth century, a founding father of
photography's modernist tradition whose half-century-long career defies
neat categorization. This publication presents the photographer's entire
oeuvre, with special emphasis on his investigation of English life in
the 1930s and his innovative late nudes. The Museum of Modern Art has
been exhibiting and collecting Brandt's photographs since the late
1940s, and has recently more than doubled its collection of vintage
prints of his work, which forms the core of this selection.
All about Bill Brandt
4 - Untold: The stories behind the photographs
Steve McCurry's iconic images have made him one of the world?s most
popular photographers for more than 30 years. Now, for the first time,
Untold: The Stories Behind the Photographs will tell the stories behind
over 200 stunning images taken by McCurry from across the globe,
including Afghanistan, India, Tibet, Kuwait, the USA, and beyond. In the
finest documentary tradition, Untoldincludes never before seen ephemera
from McCurry's personal archive, including beautifully reproduced
snapshots from assignments, notes, journals, portraits, maps and more.
The book is organized chronologically and includes both his known works
and lesser-known photographs, while focusing on a broad range of themes.
Each section opens with an essay, giving a new insight into the ideas,
development and resulting importance of his work. This is the most
personal book that McCurry has ever published, and offers a unique
insight into photojournalism sure to fascinate any aspiring or
experienced photographer.
All about Steve McCurry
5 - A Message for You: Guy Bourdin
Both volumes are beautifully
packaged and contain a box to keep them together. It is a book about his
favorite model Nicolle Meyer who also gives her memories. If you like
the work of Guy Bourdin this is certainly a must-have! With the eye of a
painter Guy Bourdin created images containing fascinating stories,
compositions and colours. Using fashion photography as his medium,
Bourdin explored the provocative and the sublime with a relentless
perfectionism and sharp humour. Famed for his suggestive narratives and
surreal aesthetics, Bourdin radically broke conventions of commercial
photography and in the process captured the imagination of a generation.
6 - A Period of Juvenile Prosperity: Mike Brodie
We heard a lot of Mike Brodie this year with two exhibitions, one in NY
and one in LA. If you didn't see the show this book is for you. At 17
Mike Brodie hopped his first train close to his home in Pensacola, FL
thinking he would visit a friend in Mobile, AL. Instead the train went
in the opposite direction to Jacksonville, FL. Days later, Brodie rode
the same train home, arriving back where he started. Nonetheless, it
sparked something and Brodie began to wander across the U.S. by any
means that were free - walking, hitchhiking and train hopping. Shortly
after, Brodie found a Polaroid camera stuffed behind a carseat. With no
training in photography and coke-bottle glasses, the instant camera was
an opening for Brodie to document his experiences. As a way of staying
in touch with his transient community,Brodie shared his pictures on
various websites gaining the moniker The Polaroid Kidd [sic].
All about Mike Brodie
7 - Imogen Cunningham
Throughout her long life, Imogen Cunningham was tireless and exemplary
in her pursuit of new developments in photography and in the expansion
of her own practice. An inspiration to several successive generations,
she reinvented the genres of botanical photography, street photography,
nudes and portraiture, and expanded the possibilities of the double
exposure. This publication celebrates the rich diversity of this
modernist pioneer, covering Cunningham's entire seven-decade
career--from her abstract shots of plants and nudes and optical
illusions created using techniques such as inverted positive/negative
images and double exposure, to her iconic portraits for Vanity Fair of
artists, dancers, actors, musicians and writers such as Man Ray, Alfred
Stieglitz, Martha Graham, Frida Kahlo, Gertrude Stein, Morris Graves and
Merce Cunningham.
All about Imogen Cunningham
8 - We Went Back: Photographs from Europe 1933-1956 by Chim
This book traces the career of Chim, famed photojournalist and cofounder
of Magnum Photos, who dedicated much of his life to documenting war and
its aftermath. Born Dawid Szymin in Warsaw, Chim began his career in
the early 1930s photographing for leftist magazines in Paris. In 1936,
one of these magazines, Regards, sent him to the front lines of the
civil war in Spain, along with comrades Robert Capa and Gerda Taro.
All about Chim
9 - Edward Weston
You probably already have a book from Edward Weston on your shelves but
even if you do (and especially if you don't) this one is worth buying.
It is a complete compilation of his work from his early years to the
lasts. You can see his nudes, abstract nature, portraits, factory
settings and nature landscapes. The Life and Art of Edward Weston Few
photographers have created such a legacy as Edward Weston (1886-1958).
After a decade of successfully making photographs with painterly
soft-focus techniques, Weston became the key pioneer of the school of
precise and sharp presentation, dubbed "Straight Photography." Through
the 1920s, '30s, and '40s, Weston was a major force in pushing forward
the art of photography. His photographs are monuments of sensual
realism, perfectly composed images of stillness that sear with passion
and intensity.
All about Edward Weston
10 - Abelardo Morell: The Universe Next Door
Several exhibitions have put Abelardo Morell's work in the spotlight
this year. Whether you are familiar with his work or not, don't hesitate
to add this book to your private collection. Born in Havana, Cuba,
Morell came to the United States as a teenager in 1962 and later studied
photography, earning an MFA from Yale University. He gained attention
for intimate, black-and-white pictures of domestic objects from a
child’s point of view, inspired by the birth of his son in 1986, as well
as images in which he turns a room into a giant camera obscura,
projecting exterior views onto interior spaces; and photographs of books
that revel in their sensory materiality.
All about Abelardo Morell
