Lisette Model is an unsurpassed introduction to one of the twentieth century's most significant photographers--a woman whose searing images and eloquent teachings deeply influenced her students Diane Arbus, Larry Fink and many others. To mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of Model's death in 1983, Aperture is reissuing this classic, highly collectible 1979 monograph--the first book ever published on Model--in the original oversized trim and with the original distinctive design by Marvin Israel, along with an updated chronology and bibliography. This timeless volume contains more than 50 of Model's greatest images, from the rich idlers on the Promenade des Anglais in the South of France to the sad, funny and often eccentric inhabitants of New York's most subterranean haunts. As Berenice Abbott said in her preface, "One of the first reactions when looking at Model's pictures is that they make you feel good. You recognize them as real because real people express a bit of the univers
Eugène Atget was a French photographer best known for his photographs of the architecture and streets of Paris. He took up photography in the late 1880s and supplied studies for painters, architects, and stage designers. Atget began shooting Paris in 1898 using a large format view camera to capture the city in detail. His photographs, many of which were taken at dawn, are notable for their diffuse light and wide views that give a sense of space and ambience. They also document Paris and its rapid changes; many of the areas Atget photographed were soon to be razed as part of massive modernization projects.
Atget’s photographs drew the admiration of a variety of artists, most notably Man Ray, Henri Matisse, and Pablo Picasso. Man Ray even used one of Atget’s photographs for the cover of his surrealist magazine la Révolution surréaliste. The photographer Berenice Abbott preserved Atget’s prints and negatives and was the first person to exhibit Atget’s work outside of France.
A small little book, helped me learn a few more things about one of the pioneers of "street photography". What I really liked were the castles with trees in front of them. The perspective of the tree partially covering the castles and BW is quite powerful. But the Fotos of Old Paris didn't convince me that much.
10" square book means the images are not too small, but this isn't a cumbersome coffee table book. Images rendered well, too. One image per double truck, which I appreciate, enabling me to consider one image at a time, and not look at two and make inevitable comparisons.
Intro essay isn't particularly insightful, full of a lot of lists that lose their meaning once it is longer than, say 5 or 6. Best when it just focuses on one image and delves into what makes it special.