In the Face of History - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1904772579 ISBN 13: 9781904772576

Publisher: Black Dog Pub Ltd, 2006

Synopsis

In the Face of History is a collection of works by some of the greatest European photographers of the twentieth century. Capturing some of the key events in the continent's history, these images of hope and despair illuminate the currents of political and social change that shape and are shaped by individual lives.

The book contains the work of over 25 photographers, including Eug�ne Atget, Brassa•, Roman Vishniac, Josef Sudek, Sune Jonsson, Robert Doisneau, Christer Stršmholm, Anders Petersen, Boris Mikhailov, Chris Killip, Jitka Hanzlov‡ and Wolfgang Tillmans. Through the camera, they attempt to make sense of the world around them, and the resulting "subjective documentary" provides us with an emotional insight into events that we may have read about countless times on paper, but never really comprehended. Texts by key academics will provide authoritative context for the images.

With world events happening at a pace around us, and our perceptions of our roles within those events changing with them, In the Face of History is a timely publication. It will challenge traditional historical narratives and raise pertinent questions regarding responsibility and power.

In the Face of History navigates an important stream of European practice that remains relatively uncharted, particularly in countries of the former Eastern bloc. It is a stream that might be termed "subjective documentary." Here, the image is observed rather than invented, reality is recorded rather than manipulated - and yet that reality is subtly and artistically inflected by the photographer's own unique vision or experience.

Often uplifting, sometimes shocking, In the Face of History depicts a past that is fundamentally a part of our present, and in doing so, provides a moving new take on what it means to be European.

About this title

Review

In the Face of History brings together 22 photographers whose work is rooted in a sense of time and place, and who collectively map out a century of European experience. Some are caught up in moments of epic conflict, while others reflect subtler currents of social change. Intensely personal chronicles of community, family and love sit alongside, and at times overlap with, documents of historical record. The images range from the trenches of the First World War to the Jewish ghetto of Lodz; from the Paris of Atget, Brassaï and Doisneau to the Berlin of Michael Schmidt and Wolfgang Tillmans; and from cities and suburbs to tiny villages. They document a vast range of experience, but all are distinguished by the photographers' compulsion to record the world as they find it, a world refracted through the prism of their own experience. Often uplifting, sometimes shocking, In the Face of History depicts a past that is fundamentally a part of our present, and in doing so provides a moving new take on what it means to be European.

Edition details

• Publisher: Black Dog Pub Ltd
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1904772579
• ISBN 13: 9781904772576
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256
• Editor: Bush Kate