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50 Photo Icons. The Story Behind the Pictures
Photographs have a strange and powerful way of shaping the way we see the world. The most successful images enter our collective consciousness, defining eras, making history, or simply touching something so fundamentally human and universal that they have become resonant icons all over the globe. To explore this unique influence, Photo Icons puts some of the most important photographic landmarks under the microscope. From some of the earliest photography, such as Nicéphore Niépce’s 1827 eight-hour-exposure rooftop picture and Louis Daguerre’s famous 1839 street scene, through to Martin Parr, this is as much a history of the medium as a case-by-case analysis of social, historical, and artistic impact. We take in experimental Surrealist shots of the 1920s and the gritty photorealism of the 1930s, including Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother. We witness the power-makers (Che Guevara) and the heartbreakers (Marilyn Monroe) as well as the great gamut of human emotions and experiences to which photography bears such vivid from the euphoric Kiss in Front of City Hall (1950) by Doisneau to the horror of Nick Ut’s The Terror of War, showing nine-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc running naked toward the camera from South Vietnamese napalm.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2011
12 people are currently reading
129 people want to read
About the author
Hans-Michael Koetzle
59 books6 followersHans-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.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 14, 2022
Un’ottimo volume sulla storia della fotografia.
Bello!
Chicca: Man Ray e Robert Capa
Bello!
Chicca: Man Ray e Robert Capa
October 18, 2024
No está mal. Resulta interesante. Unas veces más, otras menos. Fotografías importantes por el avance técnico o conceptual, o el contexto histórico que representan.
Algunas muy conocidas ya como el republicano que cae muerto en la Guerra Civil española de Robert Capa, el zepelín en llamas de Sam Shere (mítica portada de Led Zeppelin 1), el beso de la victoria al finalizar la 2GM de Alfred Eisenstaedt, el beso aún más famoso de Robert Doisneau (reproducida hasta la saciedad en los típicos pósters; por cierto, esta foto estaba preparada), la de James Dean caminando por Times Square de Dennis Stock, el salto del soldado de la RDA en Berlín hacia la zona occidental de Peter Leibing, una de las dos clásicas del Che Guevara (la del puro) de René Burri, la de los niños huyendo del bombardeo de napalm en Vietnam de Nick Ut, las mujeres desfilando desnudas de Helmut Newton o las de los apagafuegos de Kuwait tras la primera guerra del golfo de Sebastiao Salgado.
Otras que no conocía y que me han llamado la atención: la que se considera primera fotografía de una figura humana (Paris en el bulevar del Temple) de Louis Jacques Daguerre (¡al menos 10 minutos de exposición!), la de Toulouse-Lautrec en su estudio (pinta de cachondo el tío) de Maurice Guibert, la niña trabajadora en una hilandera de Carolina (EEUU) de Lewis W Hine, una de las primeras carreras de automóviles fotografiadas de Jacques-Henri Lartigue, el retrato Negra y Blanca de Man Ray, el corsé de Horst P Horst, la vista de una Dresde arrasada por los bombardeos desde la torre del ayuntamiento, detrás del ángel custodio, de Richard Peter (quizá la más impactante), la serie de la última sesión de Marilyn de Bert Stern, la de Breznev con Willy Brandt de Barbara Klemm o la serie Chambre Close de Bettina Rheims.
Los textos de Koetzle ayudan a poner cada fotografía en contexto y lo que representa para el mundo de la fotografía, como he dicho, en cuanto a avance técnico o conceptual, de transgresión y cruce de fronteras.
Merece la pena conocer la historia de estas fotografías. Aunque como en cualquier selección que se haga, probablemente son todas las que están, pero no están todas las que son.
Algunas muy conocidas ya como el republicano que cae muerto en la Guerra Civil española de Robert Capa, el zepelín en llamas de Sam Shere (mítica portada de Led Zeppelin 1), el beso de la victoria al finalizar la 2GM de Alfred Eisenstaedt, el beso aún más famoso de Robert Doisneau (reproducida hasta la saciedad en los típicos pósters; por cierto, esta foto estaba preparada), la de James Dean caminando por Times Square de Dennis Stock, el salto del soldado de la RDA en Berlín hacia la zona occidental de Peter Leibing, una de las dos clásicas del Che Guevara (la del puro) de René Burri, la de los niños huyendo del bombardeo de napalm en Vietnam de Nick Ut, las mujeres desfilando desnudas de Helmut Newton o las de los apagafuegos de Kuwait tras la primera guerra del golfo de Sebastiao Salgado.
Otras que no conocía y que me han llamado la atención: la que se considera primera fotografía de una figura humana (Paris en el bulevar del Temple) de Louis Jacques Daguerre (¡al menos 10 minutos de exposición!), la de Toulouse-Lautrec en su estudio (pinta de cachondo el tío) de Maurice Guibert, la niña trabajadora en una hilandera de Carolina (EEUU) de Lewis W Hine, una de las primeras carreras de automóviles fotografiadas de Jacques-Henri Lartigue, el retrato Negra y Blanca de Man Ray, el corsé de Horst P Horst, la vista de una Dresde arrasada por los bombardeos desde la torre del ayuntamiento, detrás del ángel custodio, de Richard Peter (quizá la más impactante), la serie de la última sesión de Marilyn de Bert Stern, la de Breznev con Willy Brandt de Barbara Klemm o la serie Chambre Close de Bettina Rheims.
Los textos de Koetzle ayudan a poner cada fotografía en contexto y lo que representa para el mundo de la fotografía, como he dicho, en cuanto a avance técnico o conceptual, de transgresión y cruce de fronteras.
Merece la pena conocer la historia de estas fotografías. Aunque como en cualquier selección que se haga, probablemente son todas las que están, pero no están todas las que son.
December 8, 2021
As is typical of Taschen art books, this book is very reasonably priced and the printing quality is so so. 🤓
I have the larger hardback version of this, so that's the version I'm speaking of. I know nothing about the smaller versions Taschen has also produced.
Take, for example, the very famous photo by Alfred Stieglitz titled "The Steerage". The version printed here is far too dark (you cannot see the people on the lower level in the shadows, for instance). I'm not sure who approves these things, but it seems they've never seen this photo before!
All in all, this is a good cheap way to introduce yourself to many well-known photographers. For those new to photography, I can recommend it. For others who already know a little bit, you are better off putting more of your own energy into reading a variety of other books on individual photographers. For instance, you may find yourself (like me!), buying a few others books in order to have a good print of "The Steerage". 🤣 (For that one, I recommend the book published by MOMA, "Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand". The print and paper quality in that book is excellent and it can be found used very cheap.)
I have the larger hardback version of this, so that's the version I'm speaking of. I know nothing about the smaller versions Taschen has also produced.
Take, for example, the very famous photo by Alfred Stieglitz titled "The Steerage". The version printed here is far too dark (you cannot see the people on the lower level in the shadows, for instance). I'm not sure who approves these things, but it seems they've never seen this photo before!
All in all, this is a good cheap way to introduce yourself to many well-known photographers. For those new to photography, I can recommend it. For others who already know a little bit, you are better off putting more of your own energy into reading a variety of other books on individual photographers. For instance, you may find yourself (like me!), buying a few others books in order to have a good print of "The Steerage". 🤣 (For that one, I recommend the book published by MOMA, "Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand". The print and paper quality in that book is excellent and it can be found used very cheap.)
August 2, 2025
Some kisses you never forget. This sailor's kiss is one. Another is Robert Doisneau's "Kiss in Front of City Hall" taken outside the Paris Metro. That's inside.
An entire collection of kisses would be the book for me. As it is, this is an exemplary short history of photography from 1827 to 1991. There are photographs and commentary about the photographers and their subjects. There is also proof that some iconic photos took many tries to get. This is the case with Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother." See how many photos she took of this Depression era mother and her children and it is hard to ever look the same at this celebrated portrait. The mother frowns and looks away from the camera as if she is spent of patience with the whole process and her children recoil from Lange. In contrast, the entry for Robert Capa's "Falling Soldier" seals its iconic status. Any doubts to its legitimacy are put to rest. The soldier is named and had fallen in the Spanish Civil War, where Capa saw and captured the moment. "If your pictures are no good," Capa is claimed to have said, "you didn't get close enough." He did go in close. Always until his death, camera in hand.
Compelling photographs and fascinating reading.
An entire collection of kisses would be the book for me. As it is, this is an exemplary short history of photography from 1827 to 1991. There are photographs and commentary about the photographers and their subjects. There is also proof that some iconic photos took many tries to get. This is the case with Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother." See how many photos she took of this Depression era mother and her children and it is hard to ever look the same at this celebrated portrait. The mother frowns and looks away from the camera as if she is spent of patience with the whole process and her children recoil from Lange. In contrast, the entry for Robert Capa's "Falling Soldier" seals its iconic status. Any doubts to its legitimacy are put to rest. The soldier is named and had fallen in the Spanish Civil War, where Capa saw and captured the moment. "If your pictures are no good," Capa is claimed to have said, "you didn't get close enough." He did go in close. Always until his death, camera in hand.
Compelling photographs and fascinating reading.
September 17, 2013
"A picture is worth a thousand words" as the saying goes. Taschen's beautifully bound edition is a fascinating must read for photographers and photo enthusiasts. Filled with images of the "decisive moment" every photographer strives to capture, "50 Photo Icons. The Story Behind the Pictures" not only provides a historical account behind the shot but also serves an inspirational and compelling addition to any photographer's library.
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July 27, 2016I sure wouldn't want to choose 50 photographs, but I have the feeling that this was an effort to present a short history of photography through 50 (and some more) photographs rather than present 50 truly outstanding photographs. So maybe the title is slightly misleading, but a good book, even though some mistakes (that should have been spotted by the editor) really bothered me.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews