Paper Dreams: The Lost Art Of Hollywood Still Photography

by David Campany, Christoph Schifferli (Editor)

Film stills are a blind spot in the history of twentieth-century photography. Largely collected and appreciated simply for their documentary value, only recently have private and public collectors started to discover their seductive and original artistic qualities. In the 1920s and 1930s, during Hollywood'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 that glamorous era--masterpieces from a large collection of film photography. Reproducing them 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.

108 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2006

Reviews

[Jeannine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another curious and disappointing collection of still photographs from the golden era of film. A lovely book - hardcover, crisp reproductions of photos - but the photography selection is curious. Most of the photos are of actors/actresses I'm not familiar with which made it kind of blah. Of course my ignorance isn't the fault of the author.

Loved the cover photo of Lillian Gish from The Wind (an actress and a film, I adore), but otherwise, nothing to write home about.

This book was on my wish list for a long time but at $60 I wasn't going to commit to it. Found it marked down (brand new) for $10 and took a gamble. I'd happily pay the higher price for something spectacular, but the problem with these photography books is you don't know what's inside until you buy and after this disappointing book and Still: American Silent Motion Picture Photography, I'm just not willing to take that chance.

[Relyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me want to collect film stills. What a lush, gorgeous book. The book is worth the price just for its beauty, but I actually learned a lot about a forgotten art form. Great read!