New York: Portrait Of A City Author: Visit Amazon's Reuel Golden Page | Language: English | ISBN:
3836505142 | Format: PDF
New York: Portrait Of A City Description
About the Author
Reuel Golden graduated in politics from the University of Sussex, England. Formerly the editor of British Journal of Photography and executive editor at Photo District News, he is the author of two books: Masters of Photography and Witness: The World's Greatest News Photographers. He has lectured on photography in London, New York and Los Angeles, and judged numerous photography competitions. He lives in Brooklyn.
- Hardcover: 572 pages
- Publisher: Taschen; Mul edition (September 30, 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 3836505142
- ISBN-13: 978-3836505147
- Product Dimensions: 13.6 x 10.3 x 1.8 inches
- Shipping Weight: 9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
This lovely book follows the same format as Taschen's Los Angeles, Portrait of a City: a history based on named photographers though there are many fine images taken by anonymous snappers. The LA book had thirty-nine photographers but as this is New York it takes 124 of them and over 500 photos to expose the city.
All the regulars are here, photographers who have created that special look over the years. Abbott, Bubley, Eisenstadt, Feininger, Klein, Orkin, Riis and a good showing from Weegee but what I found fascinating was the number photos from anonymous sources. Right up to the late Forties unknowns had taken some quite remarkable shots revealing a particular aspect of the city. Some of these run over spreads throughout the book and they look stunning. Pages 108-109 have that famous shot of the sunlight streaming through windows at Grand Central Terminus, anonymous from 1929.
The book's five chapters look backwards over 160 years starting in 1850 and though maybe one could fault it by only using historical photos rather than a wider range of graphic images I think it succeeds because of this. The city has a long pedigree of photographic interpretation and some of the best works are in these pages. I thought it a plus that so many well-known images are mixed in with the dozens and dozens of not so well known shots and all collected in this big, chunky book. Another plus, least from my point-of-view, is that there are very few photos of popular culture celebrities. The celebrity is the city with nearly all the images exteriors showing the changing landscape, people (mostly just New Yorkers) or just out on the street.
New York: Portrait Of A City Preview
Link
Please Wait...