Customer Reviews:
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 Almost got it... September 7, 2005
4 out of 16 found this review helpful
This is a very constipated read. For such a small book, it took me more (a lot more) than the usual. Although I found very interesting the works, and photographers, chosen, it lacks works, and photographers, that will make it a complete reference guide.
It leaves you wanting more, but still good a learning experience.
 I'm not at the right photo level to read this and give a fair rating August 17, 2005
3 out of 26 found this review helpful
As a follow up of a review in Business week did buy this book which I find good to look at but almost impossible to read as such
Sorry
A good supplement to visiting art galleries. July 20, 2005
15 out of 45 found this review helpful
The photographs shown here are not really of popular appeal. There are no scarlet sunsets, romping puppies, or laughing children. Actually, there is exactly one photograph among the 217 nicely reproduced images that clearly might be enjoyed by most people. This is Esko Mannikko's color photograph of a Finnish dairy farmer, in his rustic kitchen, smoking a cigaret while feeding a baby lamb with a baby's milk bottle. In addition, there is one image from Bernd and Hilla Becher's irresistable series of odd-shaped water towers.
The book includes photographs from a number of famous, but otherwise lacking in popular appeal, photographers, e.g., Steven Shore, Thomas Struth, Joel Sternfeld, William Eggleston, and Cindy Sherman. Also included are a great many photographs created by lesser known artists. Nearly all of the photographs are somewhat puzzling, in that it is not clear how they could be construed as being compelling or interesting, how they could provide insight into the world as we know it, or how they could be construed as being "art." For example, the book includes Ruth Erdt's picture of an ordinary boy on a beach, Uta Barth's picture of a window with smudges, Marketa Othova's picture of a bland livingroom, and Jeff Wall's picture of a mop. Nevertheless, there are some gems to be found in this generous collection of 217 photographs. We learn about Nina Katchadourian's photographs of mushrooms, where the naturally occurring cracks are "repaired" with bicycle tire patches, or of naturally torn spider webs, "repaired" with red thread. We learn of Georges Rousse's technique of painting white areas within a garage or barn so that when viewed from one angle, it looks like the circular beam of an intense spotlight. The author Charlotte Cotton should have mentioned John Pfahl's book (Altered Landscapes (1981) Friends of Photography) at this point. John Pfahl is likely the pioneer at this attractive technique. We learn of Axel Hutte's technique of displaying a large transparency, mounted in front of a mirror, to create a glistening effect. We learn of Wim Delvoye's method of altering photographs of cliffs and monuments, so that they bear some casual or trite message, such as "Out walking the dog. Back soon. Tina." We learn of Joan Fontcuberta's fanciful technique of fabricating mermaid fossils, mounting them in rugged areas by the seashore, and photographing the installation. We learn of Susan Derges' appealing method of placing huge sheets of photographic paper at the bottom of a stream or brook, and letting the moon expose the paper, resulting in a feathery pattern. We learn of Vik Muniz' re-creation of a famous photograph of Jackson Pollack, caught in the act of doing an action painting, where Vik Muniz' re-creation consisted of dribbled chocolate syrup, dribbled to reproduce the original photographic image. Then, of course, there are some gloriously tacky photographs by Martin Parr, including a close up of custard bars with pink frosting festooned with multicolored sprinkles, and another photograph of a puppy wearing sunglasses having rainbow-colored rims. Martin Parr has also created an unpublished portfolio of signs from the village of Boring, Oregon. Also, Martin Parr has published an amusing collection of boring (not tacky, not gaudy, just boring) postcards called Boring Postcards USA (2000) Phaidon Press.
To summarize, nearly all of the images in Charlotte Cotton's book are essentially uninteresting, too dull to warrent any comment, or with little apparent ability to stimulate amusement, outrage, solace, or insight. But the utility of this book is that everyone will surely be able to find at least two or three interesting photographers here, and thus be enabled to seek out monographs of these particular artists.
 Info-Packed and Insightful, With Only Minor Imperfections December 15, 2004
34 out of 39 found this review helpful
This information-packed paperback, which is relatively small for an art book, has an Introduction and seven chapters. The Intro specifies that the book is a "the kind of overview you might experience if you visited exhibitions in a range of venues." After summarizing the chapters, the Intro concludes with descriptions of photographers who are "figureheads" or "cornerstones" of contemporary artistic photography: Eggleston, Shore, the Bechers, Keita, Goldblatt, and Meatyard.
Chapter 1, "If This Is Art," covers photos for which the artist has created an event prior to the shutter's being released. Among the artists discussed are Philip-Lorca diCorcia and Erwin Wurm. As a small problem, three of the photographs are reproduced at a rather small size (<15 square cm).
In Chapter 2, "Once Upon a Time," the author writes of photography in which "narrative is loaded into a single frame," which the author also calls "tableau photography." The prototypic artist here is Jeff Wall.
The next two chapters are my least favorite in the book. Chapter 3, "Deadpan," concerns a "cool, detached and keenly sharp type of photography." Many of the "deadpan" photographers, such as Andreas Gursky and Thomas Struth, were influenced by the Bechers and use large photos to convey their points. Chapter 4, "Something and Nothing," discusses still lifes, architecture, and nature shots that "push[] the boundaries of what might be considered a credible visual subject." Maybe I'm missing the point, but I fail to understand how many of the photos (e.g., of car panels in a doorway, a globe in a window, and a pink fabric bow) are artful.
Chapter 5's theme, "Intimate Life," encompasses work by photographers such as Larry Clark, Nan Goldin, and Wolfgang Tillmans. Chapter 6's theme, "Moments in History," does not relate to photojournalism, but rather to "aftermath photography" and the documentation of various groups of people in an almost anthropological fashion. If Chapter 3 suffers from the book's inability to show the photos close to their full size, Chapters 5 and 6 suffer from the book's inability to show sequences of photos by each artist.
Chapter 7, "Revived and Remade," is my favorite. This concentrates on photographs that "exploit[] our pre-existing knowledge of imagery." Works by Joan Fontcuberta, Thomas Ruff, Cindy Sherman, Gillian Wearing, and others make one think hard about the nature of photography.
The back pages give references for further reading, a list of the over 200 photos (giving dimensions of the originals etc.), and an index of photographers (who hail from many countries). Overall the book is well-written and insightful. Don't miss this book at Amazon.com!
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