The atomic age began at 5:30 a.m. on July 16, 1945, with the explosion of “the Gadget” at Trinity near Alamogordo, New Mexico. Prelude to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which forced the capitulation of Japan and ended World War II, the Trinity test was the culmination of herculean efforts by scientists, civilians, and the military of the United States to tap the potential of the atom for a wartime emergency. If Nazi Germany could engineer the bomb first, an Allied victory against Hitler was all but lost. Historic Photos of the Manhattan Project is a look back at the epic struggle to build the world's first atomic bomb. Nearly 200 images in vivid black-and-white reveal the project as it unfolded, from its secretive origins at Oak Ridge, Hanford, and Los Alamos, to the day Americans celebrated triumph over the Axis powers with victory over Japan. A pinnacle moment in the history of the United States, the Manhattan Project's application of Einstein's famous equation E = MC2 shows, perhaps better than any other single endeavor, what can be achieved by human ingenuity when the citizens of a great nation are united in freedom against a fearsome and despotic foe.
A charismatic stage and screen actress. A model whose beauty inspired some of the most arresting images of the twentieth century. A visionary photographer. A revolutionary with deep commitments to communism. A woman whose life, loves, and death were controversial. Tina Modotti (1896-1942) was all of these. Her life was one of almost unimaginable glamor, scandal, and turmoil. This biography portrays Modotti accurately and fairly, cutting through the distortions of myth and rumor that surround her. Perhaps best known as the lover, model, and apprentice of American photographer Edward Weston, Modotti emerges in these pages as a complex woman, deeply passionate in her relationships as well as her art and politics.
Historian Letizia Argenteri examines an array of international historical documents and letters as she traces the path of Modotti's life and career through Italy, California, Mexico, Germany, Moscow, and Spain. Argenteri tells the dramatic story in full detail, casting light on the mysteries of Modotti's life and carefully placing her in the political and social milieu of her time. The many fascinating illustrations in this book further illuminate Modotti's life.
The history of photography in Mexico was a largely untold story until the 1994 publication of Olivier Debroise's Fuga Mexicana, un recorrido por la fotografía en México. Based on ten years' research in public and private photographic archives in Mexico, the United States, Guatemala, and Europe, Fuga Mexicana provided the first comprehensive survey of Mexican photography from the advent of the daguerreotype in 1839 to the present.
The Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920 is among the world's most visually documented revolutions. Coinciding with the birth of filmmaking and the increased mobility offered by the reflex camera, it received extraordinary coverage by photographers and cineastes—commercial and amateur, national and international. Many images of the Revolution remain iconic to this day—Francisco Villa galloping toward the camera; Villa lolling in the presidential chair next to Emiliano Zapata; and Zapata standing stolidly in charro raiment with a carbine in one hand and the other hand on a sword, to mention only a few. But the identities of those who created the thousands of extant images of the Mexican Revolution, and what their purposes were, remain a huge puzzle because photographers constantly plagiarized each other's images. In this pathfinding book, acclaimed photography historian John Mraz carries out a monumental analysis of photographs produced during the Mexican Revolution, focusing primarily on those made by Mexicans, in order to discover who took the images and why, to what ends, with what intentions, and for whom. He explores how photographers expressed their commitments visually, what aesthetic strategies they employed, and which identifications and identities they forged. Mraz demonstrates that, contrary to the myth that Agustín Víctor Casasola was "the photographer of the Revolution," there were many who covered the long civil war, including women. He shows that specific photographers can even be linked to the contending forces and reveals a pattern of commitment that has been little commented upon in previous studies (and completely unexplored in the photography of other revolutions).
In 2017 photographer Merlin Daleman embarked on a journey through the economic North of the UK. Originally from the West Midlands, Daleman has lived in the Netherlands for most of his adult life. Driven by curiosity to understand the divisions in the UK made evident in the 2016 referendum, he returned to photograph. He revisited the previously familiar with the eyes of an outsider.
One of the world's most celebrated photojournalists and filmmakers, Ed Kashi has dedicated the past 45 years to documenting the social and geopolitical issues that define our era. His newest book, A Period in Time: Looking Back while Moving Forward: 1977–2022, is a stunning and expansive retrospective of photographs spanning the world and his prolific career. Over 200 images collected in this book reflect his commitment to bear witness. Essays and contextual writings combine with the photographs to provide a personal, in-depth look at significant historical events.
Nick Brandt presents a new photography book to be published by Skira Editore with a launch at his new solo exhibition at Hangar Art Center in September
Family Amnesia is a visual tribute and love letter honoring the artist's Chinese American family roots in the United States. The book explores her family's multi-generational resilience and resistance through mixed media collages, her grandfather’s photographs, her own captured images and archival material.
In July, Aperture will release Todd Hido: Intimate
Distance, Over Thirty Years of Photographs, A Chronological Album, a newly
assembled, chronological album compiling over thirty years of Hido’s
photographs, including a selection of new works.
Spending between 24 and 72 hours documenting each family, Lewis's intimate black and white photographs capture caught moments within the homes of a variety of families as the project unfolded over 14 years. The images explore the fullness of parenting, from the unexpected chaos to the quiet shared moments.
The Enchanted Ones, a new photo book by Stephanie Pommez, is a visual tale that drifts between reality and myth, inspired by the legends of the Brazilian Amazon. Shot entirely on 35mm black-and-white film, the book moves beyond documentary into the realm of the imaginary, capturing a world where the seen and unseen coexist.
Soumoud In Dark Times is a new photobook by Rehab Nazzal. Featuring 41 color photographs taken between October 2023 and November 2024, the book presents a diaristic record of everyday life across the West Bank during a year of intensified military and settler violence.