Icons of Photography: The 20th Century

by Peter Stepan

More than ninety of the century's best photographers are presented in this richly illustrated volume with some 160 icons of the genre. This selection focuses not only on universally famous and artistically stunning images by renowned photographers, but also on the discovery of lesser known pictures of exquisite quality.
The range of subject material, from the portrait to political or social reportage, from genre images to abstract or subjective photography, is matched only by the stylistic variety of the selected works. These reflect the multiplicity of this century's artistic movements and lend them new expression through their clarity and focus. More than any other artistic medium, photography has changed the way we view our world at the close of the twentieth century, a fact that is clearly reflected in this volume.

Genres: Photography, Nonfiction, Art and Photography, Art

200 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1999

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure how I feel about the criterion, mentioned in the introduction, that In the history of photography there naturally have been many anonymous masterpieces or less extensive bodies of work, but these were not taken into consideration for this volume. Only individuals with an impressive corpus were eligible, and this is not a "photos of the century" collection. On the one hand -- fine, I get that, although maybe they should've titled it Iconic Photographers instead. On the other hand, the result of this criterion seems to be the inclusion of many individuals and images that are so well known as to be redundant. Stieglitz? Mapplethorpe? Ansel Adams? Diane Arbus? Anyone with any interest in photography knows who they are and what they did. Probably almost everyone even without a particular interest in photography has seen Bourke-White's portrait of Gandhi and Korda's of Che Guevara. Anyone who has been to a poster sale has seen the lovers kissing in Paris. If we're collecting photos to save in a time capsule for a post-apocalyptic future world, I'm fine with those being included, but as it stands they seem like a waste of very limited page space.

[Danice · Rating 4 out of 5]

More than 160 beautiful photographs selected from the works of ninety 20th century photographers. I like how this book includes both male and female photographers, from various countries, faiths, ethnicities and backgrounds.

[Malika-Liki · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book wa interesting as it gave infos about some famous photos , and/or photographs. I agreed with most but founf that some weren't icons to br chosen in ths book.
A beautiful journey through the 20th century.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hele mooie introductie op de fotogeschiedenis van de 20e eeuw.