De grootste fotografen

by Roberto Koch

This elegant, large-format volume presents twenty masters of photography via 300 extraordinary authorial photographs, providing a broad yet accessible overview of twentieth-century photography. From Man Ray’s pioneering experimentations to the elegant and provocative fashion shots of Helmut Newton and Herb Ritts, the twenty master photographers featured in this handsome tome are masters of their craft across different photographic genres, from reportage and documentary to art and portraiture to fashion and glamour photography. A portfolio for each photographer features a selection of their legendary images, an introduction to the photographer’s oeuvre, a brief biography, and commentary on each of the featured photographs. The volume features a striking, elegant design and large format, bringing these iconic photographs into sharp focus.Master Photographers features the work of Araki Nobuyoshi, Gabriele Basilico, Margaret Bourke-White, Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Doisneau, Elliott Erwitt, Walker Evans, Mario Giacomelli, Mimmo Jodice, William Klein, Peter Lindbergh, Man Ray, Robert Mapplethorpe, James Nachtwey, Helmut Newton, Martin Parr, Herb Ritts, Sebastião Salgado, and August Sander.

Genres: Photography

448 pages, Hardcover

First published November 13, 2012

Reviews

[Meagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The photos in this book are universally impressive, moving, and often shocking. It would have been an easy five star rating but for the fact that Margaret Bourke-White was the only female photographer represented. I mean, how difficult would it have been to include a Susan Sontag, or a Diane Arbus? There are many female master photographers, so the fact that only one is represented here feels like more than an oversight. Still, a beautiful book well worth the time it takes to read.

[Asta Schmitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd love to publish a book called The Greatest Photographers and fill it with the work of 18 white women. (Say Berenice Abbott, Eve Arnold, Desiree Dolron, Dana Lixenberg, Scarlett Hooft Graafland, Diane Arbus, Eva Besnyö, Inge Morath, Dorothea Lange, Lee Miller, Tina Modotti, Vivian Maier, Nan Goldin, Imogen Cunningham, Charlotte Dumas, Rineke Dijkstra, Germaine Krull and Cindy Sherman.) Then, for a sprinkling of diversity, I'd add one Japanese woman and one white man.

Now back to reality. It's not that the work featured in this book is bad, most of it is actually quite good (except for Araki and Parr). I just can't get over how anyone could publish this in 2017 and still have such tunnel vision. Canonisation is a way to remember some to the exclusion of others. Why present Man Ray's work but not Lee Miller's? Did y'all skip over that moment in time where she became a war correspondent, photographed the Nazi death camps and the liberation of Paris and also bathed in Hitler's tub the day he committed suicide? Why put a spotlight on Walker Evans and not Dorothea Lange? And why is it never the other way around? (Sexism, kids.)

And why not include the likes of Yusuf Karsh, Malick Sidibé or Ara Güler? (Racism, kids.)

I can't even come up with the name of a single established female photographer who's not white because they are never included in these kinds of books.