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Pigeonholed as a mere urban preservationist or a naïve proto-Surrealist, Eugène Atget imbued his photographic “documents” with a distinct style and a melancholy vision. By Dan Hofstadter This article originally appeared in the Summer issue of Art & Antiques Magazine … Continue reading
A new exhibition of Herb Ritts’ iconic commercial work proves that fashion photography isn’t just posing as fine art. Continue reading
Vernacular photography, a growing, collector-driven field, finds mystery and masterpieces in the lenswork of unknown amateurs. Continue reading
It’s often said that the freaks come out at night, but two recent shows prove that it’s really the photographers. Continue reading
Digital photography has all but killed off film, and even professional photographers are running around snapping pictures with their iPhones, but there’s still a place in this world for a classic mechanical film camera—especially if it’s a Leica. Continue reading
By John Dorfman After 75 years, the pioneering color film is no more. Now perhaps the art world can recognize its unique worth as a medium. I just got my last rolls of Kodachrome back from the lab. They had … Continue reading
The Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) belongs to that elite company of artists who, dissatisfied with the limitations of the media available to them, invented their own. Around the turn of the century Prokudin-Gorskii, who had a degree in chemistry, was experimenting with ways to bring color to the monochrome world of photography. Continue reading
When Robert Frank’s landmark photography book, The Americans, was first published in the United States in 1959, it was not warmly received, to put it mildly. His photographs—off-kilter, sometimes out of focus or unflattering but always remarkable—were seen by some in that nationalistic, Cold War-era as an all-out condemnation of the country. Continue reading
A glass box of a room juts into the Los Angeles night; within it, two young women converse, unconcerned with the glittering grid of city lights beneath them. This striking image became famous not only because of its composition but because of its enduring resonance as an emblem of California modernism. Continue reading
In preparation for this past spring’s photography sale, the specialists at Sotheby’s New York were researching a 4- by 5.25-inch daguerreotype, taken in 1848 or earlier, of a rural estate on what is now New York City’s Upper West Side. The image, remarkably detailed despite some tarnishing, shows a house at the top of a hill, with a white fence encircling the yard in front of it. Continue reading