Photographers A-Z

by Hans-Michael Koetzle

Masters and An encyclopedia of 20th century photographers and their finest publications A comprehensive overview of the most influential photographers of the last century and their finest Arranged alphabetically, this biographical encyclopedia features every major photographer of the 20th century, from the earliest representatives of classical Modernism right up to the present day.

Richly illustrated with facsimiles from books and magazines, this book includes all the major photographers of the last one hundred years— especially those who have distinguished themselves with important publications or exhibitions, or who have made a significant contribution to the culture of the photographic image. The 400 entries include photographers from North America and Europe as well as from Japan, Latin America, Africa, and China.

Photographers A-Z focuses on photographic images and culture, but also features photographers working in "applied" areas, whose work goes beyond the merely illustrative, and is regarded as photographic art and is conserved by major museums, such as Julius Shulman, Terry Richardson, Cindy Sherman, and David LaChapelle, et al.

Featured photographers
Ansel Adams, Manuel Álvarez-Bravo, Nobuyoshi Araki, Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, David Bailey, Elmer Batters, Peter Beard, Cecil Beaton, Werner Bischof, Guy Bourdin, Bill Brandt, Robert Capa, William Claxton, Anton Corbijn, Robert Doisneau, William Eggleston, Masahisa Fukase, Nan Goldin, Jean-Paul Goude, John Heartfield, Eikoh Hosoe, George Hoyningen-Huene, Seydou Keïta, William Klein, Nick Knight, Neil Leifer, Peter Lindbergh, Man Ray, Robert Mapplethorpe, Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, Jean-Baptiste Mondino, Helmut Newton, Martin Parr, Irving Penn, Pierre et Gilles, Bettina Rheims, Leni Riefenstahl, Sebastião Salgado, Steve Schapiro, Andres Serrano, Cindy Sherman, Kishin Shinoyama, Jeanloup Sieff, Lord Snowdon, Bert Stern, Larry Sultan, Mario Testino, Wolfgang Tillmans, Ellen von Unwerth, Andy Warhol, Bruce Weber, Weegee, Gary Winogrand and many more.

Genres: Photography, Art, Nonfiction

439 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

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

[Philippe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This compact, hefty volume offers a delightful journey through 20th-century photography. It brings the work of many brilliant but lesser-known photographers to our attention. The directness of the photographic language that pervades this book A to Z is refreshing. We're far removed from the dour, recherché conceptual experiments in contemporary photography. Much is black-and-white of course, and the resilience and liveliness of this medium continues to beguile.
Short (and rather bland) Wikipedia-style bios are accompanied by a number of facsimile images of page spreads from one of the artist's signature books (very similar to Parr and Badger's 3-volume survey of the photo book for Phaidon). I love this format as it is more dynamic and reveals more of the artist's vision than a single, iconic image. Despite its very modest price, much care has been given to layout, typesetting and printing making it a genuine bibliophilic pleasure to peruse this book.

[Kirsty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Photographers A-Z is my first Taschen book, and will hopefully not be my last! It is a wonderful resource to have, and I have discovered some incredible work which I was in the dark about before. It is both inspirational and aspirational, and is thus sure to be the perfect gift for the photography fan in your life.

[Biggie Eddy Spaghetti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely inspiring, endless source of inspiration to look deeper into

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good reference book for quick facts about more photographers than you can possibly remember. It's good to have around. It's like a mini-coffee table book, really. Each photographer gets about 2-4 pages and their entry is written in a kind of short-hand, with half-sentences and abbreviations. But, you get the gist of what their specialty is/was and I like that it makes some interesting connections (mentorships, marriages, friendships, etc.) between photographers that I didn't know existed.

This isn't a book you sit and read all at once. It's a reference, mostly. Or, something to pick up and open and read a few mini-bios at random. I like it!

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too much to take in all at once. Really a reference book/encyclopedia with short bios about different photographers. Definitely a fun book to flip through and get some photographic inspiration. Worth the $10 it cost me just to have the references.

[✩⋆Vickkelodeon⋆✩ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro me parece una genialidad para fotógrafos o personas que estén interesadas en la fotografía. Tiene una gran variedad de fotógrafos y está bueno para tener de referencia