Photo-Icons 2. (1928 - 1991). Die Geschichte hinter den Bildern.

by Hans-Michael Koetzle

The stories behind history's most extraordinary photographs (TASCHEN's 25th anniversary special edition) Photographs have a strange and powerful way of shaping the way we see the world and influencing our perceptions of reality. To demonstrate the unique and profound influence on culture and society that photographs have, Photo Icons puts the most important landmarks in the history of photography under the microscope. Each chapter of this special edition focuses on a single image which is described and analyzed in detail, in aesthetic, historical, and artistic contexts. The book begins with the very first permanent images (Nic?phore Ni?pce's 1827 eight-hour-exposure rooftop picture and Louis Daguerre's famous 1839 street scene) and takes the reader up through the present day, via the avant-garde photography of the 1920s and works such as Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother (1936), Robert Doisneau's Kiss in Front of City Hall (1950), and Martin Parr's 'New European photography.'

Genres: Photography, Art, Nonfiction

191 pages, Paperback

First published May 5, 2003

About the author

Hans-Michael Koetzle is a Munich-based freelance author and journalist, focusing mainly on history and the aesthetics of photography. He has published numerous books on photography and has been editor-in-chief of the magazine Leica World since 1996.

Reviews

[Oleks]

Had a great pleasure to read stories of the world's most known photographers. Left me feeling inspired.