International Magazine of Photography Books

2007 Summer photo-eye Booklist.
Cover image by Martin Parr from the book Parrjective. Style Hunting in Istanbul.

If you love photography books like I do you should definitely check out the photo-eye booklist!

"[The summer edition of the photo-eye Booklist] is filled with essays and reviews of well-crafted, persuasive, influential books, books that inform and educate and inspire. Several master image-makers are honored on our pages: Richard Woodward reviews two new books about Moholy-Nagy, the Hungarian-born visionary, and Larissa Leclair muses on the steady, powerful voice of South African photographer David Goldblatt. We also have several new voices in the magazine: Jen Bekman, a gallerist from New York, has offered her impressions of an impressive show at the Getty, and Jonanna Widner, a respected and rising young writer on music and pop-culture, contributes a piece on photobooks of specific music scenes."

A little word of warning though: we've had a serious amount of trouble getting things delivered from photo-eye or chased when delivery failed. After many months this has now (hopefully) been resolved, but it might be as well to bear in mind...

Ikebana.

"Matthew Weinstein... explores contemporary concepts of reality and simulacra through visual narratives that combine imaginative botanical elements, doll figures, and eccentric interior spaces. Bypassing photography altogether, Weinstein works with the latest 3-D computer animation technology which he believes provides the perfect balance between reality and abstraction. Drawing on a variety of influences ranging from early Japanese animation and the ancient aesthetic discipline of Ikebana floral arranging to futuristic science fiction, the artist explores the relationship between artifice and nature in his lush, constructed compositions."

Ikebana. Matthew Weinstein, Story by Michael Cunningham. Baldwin Gallery, Aspen,CO, 2006. 60 pp., 19 full color plates, 9¼x9¼".

This catalogue accompanied Matthew Weinstein's exhibition "New Work", which showed at the Baldwin Gallery July 2006-Sept 2006. Besides the wonderful work of Matthew Weinstein the catalogue includes an essay by the artist as well as the original story “Witch Tree” by the author Michael Cunningham (Pulitzer Prize-winner and author of “The Hours”, for example).

BEAT. Photographs of the Beat Poetry Era.

BEAT. Photographs of the Beat Poetry Era. Photographs by Christopher Felver. Last Gasp, San Francisco, 2007. 200 pp., Numerous color and b&w illustrations, 8¼x10¼".

Comprehensive collection of photographs of the authors and influencers of the Beat era in American literature.

Paper Dreams. The Lost Art of Hollywood Still Photography.

Paper Dreams. The Lost Art of Hollywood Still Photography. Edited by Christoph Schifferli. Introduction by David Campany. Steidl / Edition 7L, Gottingen, 2005. 112 pp., 50 tritone illustrations, 11½x10".

"Film stills are a blind spot in the history of twentieth century photography. Largely collected and appreciated simply for their documentary value, only recently private and public collectors have started to discover their seductive and original artistic qualities. In the 1920s and 1930s, during Holllywood’s Golden Age, film-still photography reached an unmatched level of technical sophistication and mastery and developed an aesthetic style of its own.
This book assembles a selection of vintage film stills from the Hollywood of the 1920s and 1930s — masterpieces from a large collection of film photography. Reproduced in their original format and in high-quality tritone printing, the book conveys the unique creative and narrative qualities of these pictures from a forgotten chapter of black-and-white photography."

László Moholy-Nagy. Color in Transparency.

Color in Transparency. Photographic Experiments in Color, 1934-1946. Photographs by László Moholy-Nagy. Edited by Jeannine Fiedler and Hattula Moholy-Nagy. Steidl / Bauhaus-Archiv, Gottingen, 2006. 248 pp., 100 color illustrations, 8½x11¾".

"Among the early twentieth-century’s avant-garde, Hungarian-born photographer László Moholy-Nagy (1895-1946) was one of the most ardent seekers of the “New Vision.” His preoccupation with the phenomenon of light was a defining influence on every period of his work, and one of his great strengths lay in his effortless skill in translating light and spatial dimensions from one medium to another. By the time the first color photographic processes became widely available in the early 1930s, he had mastered black-and-white, and he turned immediately this next big thing. Color proved to be one of his most important media, not only during his early years in Germany, but also as he reestablished himself at the New Bauhaus and the Institute of Design, both of which he initiated upon moving to the United States and settling in Chicago. Until now, with only a few exceptions, his work in color has been unknown. Color in Transparency presents 100 pieces—including advertisements, portraits, urban views, New Bauhaus studies and abstract compositions— created between Moholy-Nagy’s first experiments with the medium in 1934 and his death in 1946. A foreword by his daughter, Hattula Moholy-Nagy, and an essay and captions by art historian and critic Jeannine Fiedler, along with a chronology and bibliography, elucidate the history of this appealing and accessible area of Moholy-Nagy’s work, as well as its significance in his oeuvre."

Hand-bound books

Selection of hand-bound books from Carta Inc. by Angela Liguori. For more information go here or here for a list of retailers. Also don't miss the limited edition books Angela makes together with the graphic designer Silvana Amato under the press Edizioni Almenodue.

Let's read!

The aptly named "Let's read" from Yael Franken's etsy shop. Reading - or the promotion of reading - is a good thing, always.

dpi magazine

From dpi magazine no 97 (images from dpi magazine and ana ventura blog).

I found this wonderful Taiwanese magazine on ana ventura's blog. Unfortunately I don't understand Portuguese (the language of her blog) nor Taiwanese (the language of dpi magazine's website), but luckily there's a little bit of English here and there and a lot of lovely imageries that you can browse through. It's all wonderful! Wonder where I can get myself a copy from though...?

Handmade Elements in Graphic Design

Images from The Art of Using Handmade Elements in Graphic Design.

I won't be sure about this book until I've browsed through a copy myself, but I do like the images above... Book found via the "I'm reading"-section at the wonderful Treats & Treasures.

Out of the Red. The New Emerging Generation of Chinese Photographers.

Out of the Red. The New Emerging Generation of Chinese Photographers. Numerous contributing photographers. Damiani, Bologna, 2004. 208 pp., numerous black-and-white and color illustrations, 9½x12¾".

"Out of communist China, out of the cultural revolution, out of a closed world... 'Out of the Red presents photography at the end of this outage, at the start of a new generation of Chinese image makers. What does a young photographer see in the viewfinder of her camera in Beijing, Shanghai, along the Yuan River? The latest generation of Chinese photographers is given free reign across these pages."

A book with varied images, both in quality, content and style, but with an idea to show us young photographers in an environment heavily controlled and mostly cut off from and to us in the West. Interesting.

Mosquito.

Mosquito. By Dan James. 6 x 6 inches. (images from Book By Its Cover).

"This 6×6 inch book is completely wordless and only in one color – red. What a challenge it must have been to make! The drawings are so graphic it takes a second before you realize what’s what in some of them. The characters are all made of abstract shapes, which are interesting in an of themselves, and when built up to form a body, give a lot of personality to the character. I haven’t seen this type of drawing before. It’s so unique. I love how light is used to define space. Shadows help you understand where the horizon is." -- Text Book By Its Cover

I love the restrictions Dan James has put on himself in choosing for the book to be made up of red shapes on white - and how he's carries it off. The geometric shapes that make up the figures and story are interesting in themselves, but the way he's used the negative space in giving the figures and story movement and life is really inspiring!

To read more at Book By Its Cover go here and to find out more about the book's creator go here for Dan James' website.

Sanna Annukka

Selection of work by Sanna Annukka.

Sanna Annukka (found via the lovely blog udder) is a Finnish-English illustrator and printmaker living in England. She has a BA Hons. in Illustration from the University of Brighton. During her last year at university she specialised in silkscreen printing and during this time created a limited edition print of "Maiden designs", which will be added to every year as an ongoing range.

Heavily influenced by her childhood trips to Finland and Lappland her work includes the album artwork for the band Keene and spreads for the magazine Wallpaper.

Her online shop will premiere in the Spring of 2007 (go here to join the mailing list for notification) and she has a "company printing limited edition silkscreen prints of [her] artwork. Over the coming years [she] will look to expand [the] product range from fine art prints to other printed goods such as fabric wall hangings, other textiles (including clothing), wallpaper and stationary. [She's] also working on [her] first picture book."

To contact Sanna or find out more about her or where to buy before the online shop opens go here.

The Art And Flair Of Mary Blair: An Appreciation.

The Art And Flair Of Mary Blair: An Appreciation. By John Canemaker. Disney Editions, 2003. 128pp, 10.3 x 9.7 x 0.7 inches (hardcover).

"The stylishness and vibrant color of Disney films in the early 1940s through mid-1950s came primarily from artist Mary Blair. In her prime, she was an amazingly prolific American artist who enlivened and influenced the not-so-small worlds of film, print, theme parks, architectural decor, and advertising. At its core, her art represented joyful creativity and communicated pure pleasure to the viewer. Her exuberant fantasies brimmed with beauty, charm, and wit, melding a child's fresh eye with adult experience. [...] Emulated by many, she remains inimitable: a dazzling sorceress of design and color."

Found via Book By Its Cover - most definitely go there for more! (To buy go here for example.)

Taika by Iittala

Selection of items from the Taika-range by Iittala

"Taika will add to the Iittala range a new and distinctive alternative, taking further the concept of mix and match. Taika will be launched in two colour schemes which will both mix well with this spring’s new colours, sand and ultramarine. A pinch of Taika makes your everyday life as a festive; it stirs peoples’ own imaginations and entices them to spin their own stories."

This feels like quite a departure from what Iittala normally does, but even though I like their more minimalistic and strict designs it feels good that they're also trying to introduce some more vivid designs to their product line. Especially like the little owls!

More pattern books!

Selection of pattern books - image from Books By Its Cover.

If you didn't get enough of pattern books from this post or the print & pattern amazon bookshop (and frankly who could get enough of patterns!) don't miss this post at Book By Its Cover!

Robert Rauschenberg: Combines.

Robert Rauschenberg: Combines. Essays by Paul Schimmel, Thomas Crow, Branden Joseph, Charles F. Stuckey, Jean-Paul Ameline, and an afterword by Pontus Hulten. Steidl & Partners, 2005. 324pp., 65 illustrations, 24.8 cm x 31.1 cm.

I could just kick myself for missing this exhibition at Moderna Museet!
I find Robert Rauschenberg's work wonderful, layered, vibrant and surprisingly beautiful - as well as "the goat" (actual title "monogram") being one of my early, joyous, childhood memories of art...
Luckily I was graciously loaned the catalogue, which has a complete collection of his works of Combines, and it's just as fantastic as I knew it would be!

To read more about Robert Rauschenberg and this book go to this wonderful post/article by Anita Elgerot (Swedish only I'm afraid), to the museum website (English and Swedish) or to the extensive publisher description.

Philip Treacy: "When Philip Met Isabella".

Philip Treacy: "When Philip Met Isabella". By Philip Treacy, Isabella Blow and Hamish Bowles. Assouline, 2003. 80pp., 8.9 x 6.4 x 0.5 inches (hardcover).

Isabella Blow, one of the most inspirational people in fashion, is perhaps best known for discovering the milliner Philip Treacy (who's muse she also became) and the designer Alexander McQueen. With her sad early death on Monday a unique imagination and point of view have been lost.

Philip Treacy: "When Philip Met Isabella" is a beautifully put-together book. It has humorous, eccentric and vivid imageries - but I like above best: the sculptural beauty of the headpieces carried off by a unique personality.