ON THE ART OF FIXING A SHADOW: ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Greenough, Sarah; Snyder, Joel; Travis, David; Westerbeck, Colin

ISBN 10: 0821217577 / ISBN 13: 9780821217573

Published by National Gallery of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago (1989), Chicago, 1989

About this Item

First Edition. 510pp., tan cloth, silver printing to spine, a Near Fine copy in a near fine dj.

Seller Inventory # 60418

Bibliographic Details

• Title: ON THE ART OF FIXING A SHADOW: ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF PHOTOGRAPHY
• Publisher: National Gallery of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago (1989), Chicago
• Publication Date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0821217577
• ISBN 13: 9780821217573
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

About this title

Synopsis

Of all the comprehensive volumes issued in observance of photography's 150th anniversary, ''On the Art of Fixing a Shadow'' is the most ambitious and authoritative. Little new ground is broken by the essays, written by the curators of the touring show that occasioned the book, but they nonetheless provide a rationale for the selections and an explanation of the medium's claims to being an art. As might be expected, the period from the first daguerreotypes through the wartime images of Robert Capa and W. Eugene Smith is described convincingly, while the selection of works from the postwar era seems more arbitrary. But even the 19th-century sections of the exhibition could have benefited from some renegade or revisionist thinking. As it is, ''On the Art of Fixing a Shadow'' confirms just about everything already known about the art of photography and does so with images that are often spellbinding in their beauty. The reproductions may not always be faithful to the original prints, but they are nonetheless exquisite. (New York Times)

Reviews

This large, sumptuous catalog of a traveling exhibition features the work of more than 200 photographers. The reproduction is first-rate and the textual introductions particularly well conceived and lucid. Yet this survey contains conspicuous gaps. There is little on 19th-century studio photography, portraiture, documentation of war, or use of photography for scientific purposes; developments outside of America, Britain, and Western Europe are hardly explored. Still, no one can fault the curators for these omissions. They are evidence that with its enormous impact on all aspects of life in the last 150 years, the history of photography--though relatively brief--can no longer be adequately covered by a single book.
- Kathleen Collins, Great Barrington, Mass.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.