Mary Ellen Mark (55) German Edition

by Charles Hagen

Mary Ellen Mark (b.1940) has excelled as a documentary photo-grapher for over thirty years. She has recorded the lives of people on the margins of society in dramatic, compelling images. Yet her work is more than a record of newsworthy events, presenting rich symbolic narratives about humanity in general. Other artists in this series Eugene Atget, Mathew Brady, Wynn Bullock, Julia Margaret Cameron, Joan Fontcuberta, David Goldblatt, Nan Goldin, Graciela Iturbide, Andre Kertesz, Dorothea Lange, Joel Meyerowitz, Boris Mikhailov, Lisette Model, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Eadweard Muybridge, Eugene Richards, W. Eugene Smith, Shomei Tomatsu, Joel-Peter Witkin

Genres: Photography, Art, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published January 5, 2001

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phaidon's 55 series is intended to give you a snapshot overview of the work of the photographer featured in each volume - in this case, the incredible Mary Ellen Mark, whose work easily merits encyclopedic coverage.

Deep dives are for other volumes, however, and this compact collection (it measures only 5"x6", roughly) opens with a brief biographical and thematic overview of Mark's work by former NYT art critic Charles Hagen before moving directly to what's basically a highlights reel of her photographs. The images are, by necessity, fairly small, but the reproductions are gorgeous, and each image is accompanied by a brief paragraph of explanatory text which situates the photo within the context of Mark's life and work. I personally have a weakness for the photographer's series on Indian, Vietnamese, and Mexican circus workers, but many of her other famous portfolios (early work in Turkey, Bombay's brothels, Seattle's homeless teens) are represented here as well.

Phaidon's 55 on Mark is a great introduction to the photographer's work, and one that does its job at whetting your interest to seek out more complete volumes to explore.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore Mary Ellen Mark’s photographs—I have most of her books. This overview had some photos I hadn’t seen before so it was a pleasure to peruse.

[Gijs Limonard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exploring the classics in photography; feast your eyes on these works of art; not all masterpieces but plenty to go around to get you inspired. Many of these collections are long out of print; check out the Internet Archive (https://archive.org); many of the timeless classics are made freely available or after signing up, free to (digitally) borrow.

[Digi M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing work. It seems that she pays a lot of attention to the contrast of the black and the white when setting up her photos, or framing them. Some of the circus photos remind me of Arbus, some of the European photos remind me of Bresson. Brilliant.

Looking at her photos makes me want to improve my own work.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Series 55 is a pocket book sized collection of 55 representations of contemporary photographers' works published by Phaidon.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each photograph in the book are accompanied by a brief description. The photos are incredibly interesting and the descriptions add to the mystique.