Sir Elton John, musician and philanthropist, has built one of the greatest private collections of photography in the world. This book presents an unparalleled selection of modernist images, which introduce a crucial moment in the history of photography when artists were beginning to use the camera and darkroom to redefine and transform visions of the modern world. Technological advancements gave artists the freedom to experiment and test the limits of the medium enabling new imaginings of portraits, nudes and still lifes; and street life and the modern world was captured from a new, uniquely modern perspective.
Showcasing only original vintage prints by the artists themselves, the book features key figures from the 1920s to 1950s, such as Brassai, Andre Kertesz, Dorothea Lange, Tina Modotti, Man Ray, Edward Steichen and Alexander Rodchenko. Also includes a newly commissioned interview with Sir Elton John and essays on modernist photography and technology and innovation by Dawn Ades and Shoair Mavlian.
Musicians and designers have also sifted through photography's rich history for powerful photographs to match and keep company with the music enclosed within: Anders Peterson's classic Café Leibnitz portrait of a man nestled into a partner, stands in for Tom Waits on the cover of Swordfishtrombones; Big Star and Alex Chilton push the listener into a corner with William Eggleston's Red Ceiling on their album Radio City; Rage Against the Machine goes for the jugular with the anonymous Vietnam War photo of the self-immolation of a Buddhist monk. Iconic images like the Abbey Road crosswalk are deeply inscribed in our collective memory, but we know few details about the photographer of the image. All of these-and more-are included in this compendium of electrifying images and the albums they grace. Total Records reveals the artists behind some of the most striking images on vinyl sleeves and takes us on a journey through the cultural history of the twentieth century.
"We were lucky enough to work with some of the greatest photographers in the world who captured many magical moments of our career. This volume brings together some incredible pictures spanning the past fifty years."
Mick Jagger
Tokyo 1955-1970: A New Avant-Garde explores the extraordinary convergence of artists and other creators in Japan's capital city during the radically transformative postwar period. Examining works from a range of media--painting, sculpture, photography, drawing, printmaking, video and film, as well as graphic design, architecture, musical composition and dance--this is the first publication in English to focus in depth on the full scope of postwar art in Japan. During this period, Tokyo was a vibrant hub that attracted such critical artistic figures as Taro Okamoto, Hiroshi Nakamura, Ay-O, Yoko Ono, Mieko Shiomi and Tetsumi Kudo; photographers Daido Moriyama, Eikoh Hosoe and Shomei Tomatsu; illustrators and graphic designers Tadanori Yokoo, Kohei Sugiura and Kiyoshi Awazu; and architects Arata Isozaki and Kisho Kurokawa; as well as many important artists' collectives. Curator Doryun Chong's essay investigates Tokyo's sociopolitical context and the massive urban changes that set the stage for the city to emerge as a vital node in the international avant-garde network. Essays by scholars Hayashi Michio and Miryam Sas and curator Mika Yoshitake discuss critical concepts in art and culture at this time, including "graphism," which manifested itself across various mediums; the development of new sculptural languages; and the "intermedia" tendency that engendered provocative cross-pollination among artistic genres. Masatoshi Nakajima provides an illustrated chronology and Yuri Mitsuda supplies artist biographies. Tokyo 1955-1970: A New Avant-Garde brings fresh insight to this dynamic metropolis during a time of remarkable artistic burgeoning.
In a very short space of time, Geert Broertttes lost the most important women in his life. His aunt, grandmother and mother passed away. He shared his grief with his girlfriend, who became a recurring theme in this series. But even this relationship ended, a couple of months after his mother passed. Broertjes photographed the process instinctively. It was only afterwards that he noticed the coherence of his work. It became a poetic story about love, loss and grief.
I communicate with the world by creating visual narratives of composited photographs, often illuminating that in-between moment in time. It is how I explore dreams deferred, connections to prior generations, the natural world and our place within it. Making art is my psychological release, my obsession and my salvation.
In Lost Venice (Damiani, April 2020) photographer Sarah Hadley presents an alluring and haunting portrayal of this majestic city as distilled through her personal lens of loss and nostalgia. By contemplating the temporal beauty of Venice, Hadley examines our own impermanence and the uncertain future of this unique city.
Same-sex relations are illegal in thirty-two African countries. Most, including Kenya and Uganda, were former British colonies, and the legacy of the colonialists' anti-gay legislation can be felt to this day. In 2014 Uganda introduced a so-called "kill the gays" law that sought to broaden the criminalization of same-sex relations, making it punishable by life imprisonment and, in some instances, death. In 2019 Uganda's Minister of Ethics and Integrity called to introduce such a bill once again.
Stephan Vanfleteren is mainly known to the general public for his penetrating black & white portrait photography, but over the past decades his work has ranged to documentary, artistic and personal pictures. From street photography in world cities like New York to the genocide of Ruanda, from storefront façades to the mystical landscapes of the Atlantic wall, from still lifes to intense portraits. The iconic images sit side by side with unknown treasures in this heavy tome containing no less than 505 photographs.
The tourist season is over, the promenade is empty and Brexit is at the door when Benita Suchodrev returns to the British coastal town of Blackpool to photograph the hidden reality behind the famous Amusement Mile. She leads us to local churches, soup kitchens, youth shelters, old age homes and impoverished neighborhoods, meets bizarre characters, underage mothers, drug-addicts, artists, and hermits. She photographs strangers on train platforms, homeless in torn rags feasting on ham sandwiches and coffee under a dark overpass, closed storefronts and deserted alleys on a rainy night.
Coincidences, the first monograph from American photographer Jonathan Higbee, comprises over ten years of Higbee's work on the streets of New York City, including iconic and never-before-published photographs. A self-professed love letter to New York, Higbee captures moments of serendipity when people and their surroundings collide in beautiful, humorous and sometimes extraordinary ways. Aperture Gallery & Bookstore will host a book release and reception for Coincidences on Tuesday, November 5 at 6:30pm.
In 2003, photographic artist Charlotta María Hauksdóttir moved from her native Iceland to California to study photography. The relocation stirred in her a sense of rootlessness and a yearning for the landscapes of her childhood. She began making regular trips to Iceland to take photographs of the breathtaking landscapes of fjords, mountains, craggy shorelines and glaciers that she would then reconstruct and repurpose in her studio, as we do our memories. The resulting images are published in A Sense of Place: Imprints of Iceland by Charlotta María Hauksdóttir (Daylight Books, January 2020). The book reveals how the physical space of landscapes can be closely tied to a person's identity, sense of being, and personal history.
Here is a selection of photo books that, in my opinion, should be in your library! It is of course a very subjective choice and if I could, I would have chosen at least 50 of them. This collection will help you to draft your 'wish list' or to find the perfect gift for someone who enjoys photography. Happy Holidays!
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