This work is a chronicle of the photographic genre created from the chaotic energy of everyday street life. It grew out of a 15-year collaboration between an esteemed curator and a distinguished photographer. The work of such celebrated masters as Arget, Stieglitz, Cartier-bresson, Brassai, Walker Evans, Robert Frank and Garry Winogrand is presented here, along with extraordinary photos by complete unknowns. Colin Westerbeck's text illuminates each image and he has also contributed a new illustrated afterword for this paperback edition, which examines contemporary street photography.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
This substantial book embraces the history of street photography as social and cultural document. Generously illustrated with black-and-white photographs as well as a small selection of color images, the book touches upon the work of acknowledged masters such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Andre Kertesz, Paul Strand, Bill Brandt, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, and many others. Farm Security Administration photographers, including Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange, also receive their due along with contemporary American photographers Weegee (Arthur Fellig), Gary Winogrand, Lee Friedlander, Diane Arbus, and Helen Levitt-to name just a few. This ambitious effort is perhaps most successful in bringing together the work of these classic photographers in a thoughtful, coherent study of this fascinating genre of photography. Westerbeck is associate curator of at the Art Institute of Chicago and Meyerowitz is a photographer (Bay/Sky, LJ 12/93). Highly recommended, especially for large public libraries and academic libraries.
Raymond Bial, Parkland Coll. Lib., Champaign, Ill.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Raymond Bial, Parkland Coll. Lib., Champaign, Ill.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
COLIN WESTERBECK is curator of photography at the Rat Institute of Chicago.JOEL MEYEROWITZ is best known for his large-format colour work but began his career as a street photographer in the 1960's.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
BYSTANDER embraces the social & cultural history of street photography. It touches upon the works of master photographers, yet leaves out so much about the actual photographs.
Trying to follow Meyerowitz's & Westerbeck's conversation, both obviously deeply emotional about the subject of street photography, simply went over my head in a rush of technical details & passionate positing as to why which photographer did what.
It is, however, the photographs in BYSTANDER that draw you back, again & again. The earliest ones that beg to have been enlarged, so rich in texture & composition; the later ones with their implicit social commentaries.
When we say that a picture is worth a thousand words, we're not kidding! Each & every photograph, even those that I couldn't make head nor tail, tell stories of our predecessors' lives & times, letting social history unravel before our eyes.
BYSTANDER is for everyone who loves to look at the past - the everyday, angular, shadow & light city past, through the window of a camera.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
first off, the authors do a fine job presenting to the reader an insightful history of street photography. they especially succeeded in explaining (or at least theorizing) how the various photographers came to create their respective photographic styles by finding sources of influence in modern art, architecture, and of course each other.
although there are other reviewers who believe the authors didn't give enough credit to hcb for shaping street photography into what it is today, it is important to note that even in the chapters which focus on the american photographers hcb is continuously cited as a major influence. just remember that this book is a history of street photography, not a bio of hcb!
i also agree with the reviewer who thought the photo placement within the book was a little inconvenient at times. but that minor problem does in no way detract from the overall value of such an insightful look at the history of street photography. enjoy!
although there are other reviewers who believe the authors didn't give enough credit to hcb for shaping street photography into what it is today, it is important to note that even in the chapters which focus on the american photographers hcb is continuously cited as a major influence. just remember that this book is a history of street photography, not a bio of hcb!
i also agree with the reviewer who thought the photo placement within the book was a little inconvenient at times. but that minor problem does in no way detract from the overall value of such an insightful look at the history of street photography. enjoy!
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is a wonderful, detailed history and study of an area of photography usually lumped in with other forms of documentary photography or photojournalism. The quality of the commentary is extraordinary. My only criticism -- and it's a mild one -- was that often the photos referred to are not near the text.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
About This Book...and the Table of Contents
A quality piece of work from Bulfinch (Little, Brown.) Green cloth over hardback boards with a sewn binding in dustcover; 430 pp; approximately 300 b&w illustrations. Read more
Published on April 15, 2009 by Theseus
Too many words, not enough images
This book is more of a written history of street photography than a visual history. Too much space is given up to text, and there aren't enough images to satisfy. Read more
Published on June 12, 2004 by Richard Drdul
street photography descibed in detail
A history of street photography described in both text and photos. The authors are well knowledged in the field and provide a very well layed out book that is enjoyable to read. Read more
Published on March 1, 2004 by William D. Tompkins
Misguided
History of Street Photography! - I grabbed the book. Sat down. leafed through, then stopped, read one chapter in full. And put it down in disgust. Read more
Published on September 8, 2001 by Michael Bond
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