Parr and Badger: The Photobook: A History, Volume I

It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 5:32 am

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 1 post ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: Parr and Badger: The Photobook: A History, Volume I
Unread postPosted: Fri Aug 12, 2016 1:20 pm 
Offline
Senior Member
Senior Member
User avatar

Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2015 1:34 pm
Posts: 414
Location: Los Angeles
Attachment:
IMG_0859.jpg
I love photobooks. I'm not an indiscriminate collector; rather, I collect works that appeal to my particular interests: photojournalism, reportage, portraiture and great images of people and the places they inhabit. My collecting seems to follow two paths. One is browsing brick-and-mortar new and used bookstores (sadly, a disappearing business) with open mind and eyes, "trolling" for anything that looks interesting. The other is noting an item of interest in a bibliography or footnote, and going in search of that specific item. I've been doing this for about 45 years. My photobook collection fills about 9 or 10 feet of shelf space, so that gives you an idea of the discrimination with which I add titles.

When I became aware of The Photobook: A History, a three-volume series by Martin Parr and Gerry Badger, I hesitated a long time before adding it to my collection. At $85 dollars per volume (more or less, depending on the seller), it would displace at least three monographs that are on my "to acquire" list. Several quick browses through Volume I revealed the grab-bag nature of these books: the 200 photobooks selected for inclusion in Volume I are "what [the authors] believe to be the most artistically and culturally important photobooks in the history of the medium." At first, I doubted the wisdom of adding to my library photobooks which were chosen based on someone else's judgment. I could tell at once that some of the photobooks excerpted in Volume I are not ones I would necessarily want in my own library. The number of photobook titles is very great, and the rationale used to select only 200 of them is a key factor in whether this compilation would appeal to me or to anyone else.

I purchased Volume I because the accompanying historical text appeared to be well-written and thoughtful and the images were beautifully printed. I guessed that allowing Misters Parr and Badger to share with me their subjective take on this important aspect of photographic history might just expand my view and appreciation of it. I was right.

The 335 beautifully laid-out pages of Volume I are organized in an introduction, nine somewhat chronological chapters ranging from the beginning of the medium in England and France to modern Japanese photobooks, notes, a bibliography, and an index. Each chapter begins with an essay providing an overview of a particular era and aspect of photobook arts:
(1) Topography and Travel - The First Photobooks;
(2) Facing Facts - The Nineteenth Century Photobook as Record;
(3) Photography as Art - The Pictorial Photobook;
(4) Photo Eye - The Modernist Photobook;
(5) A Day in the Life - The Documentary Photobook in the 1930s;
(6) Medium and Message - The Photobook as Propaganda;
(7) Memory and Reconstruction - The Postwar European Photobook;
(8) The Indecisive Moment - The 'Stream of Consciousness Photobook'; and
(9) Provacative Materials for Thought - The Postwar Japanese Photobook.

Some of the photographers included are well-known (William Fox Talbot, Walker Evans, August Sander, Lewis Hine, Man Ray, and Larry Clark for example), others less so. Clearly Misters Parr and Badger did not limit their selection to best-sellers. Some of the selections have been reprinted and are readily available; some are so rare they would challenge the most informed and well-heeled collector. Each entry includes representative images from the photobook under discussion as well as additional photographs of the exterior of the photobook as an artistic object (sometimes with several variants...a great aid to serious collectors). The text throughout is informative, widely-informed by the historical and cultural context in which the photobooks were produced, and very well written. This book did, indeed, expand my interest. I would not be surprised if my photobook library grows at a faster rate, and is more inclusive, thanks to this volume and the series to which it belongs.

The Photobook: A History, Volume I, by Martin Parr and Gerry Badger, (2004, reprinted 2012) is published by Phaidon and available through Amazon.


You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 1 post ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Jump to:  
cron