Committed to the Image: Contemporary Black Photographers [Hardcover]

Brooklyn Museum of Art (Compiler), Barbara Head Millstein (Editor), Clyde Taylor (Editor), Deba Prasad Patnaik (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2003

Represents a far-ranging exploration of contemporary African American identity.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Accompanying an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, this volume provides a remarkable sampling of the work of almost 100 contemporary African American photographers. Although each photographer is represented by only a few images, his or her unique vision and artistic techniques are readily evident. What these artists have in common is the use of the photographic medium to make powerful statements about the black experience in America, with results ranging from profoundly dignified portraits of both famous and ordinary people, to photojournalistic records of the ongoing struggle for justice and civil rights, and symbolic (and sometimes abstracted) images focusing on important social/racial issues. Preceding the catalog of images are several short essays that provide some historical background to black photography and underscore the unambiguously assertive content of the photographs. Short biographies of the 94 photographers are also provided. Highly recommended for any library with an interest in black studies, history of photography, or American culture. Eugene C. Burt, Data Arts, Seattle
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Hundreds of black photographers submitted their work to the Brooklyn Museum, and 94 were selected for an exhibition that outraged the notoriously art-phobic mayor of New York. The offending image, Renee Cox's bold variation on a traditional subject, Yo Mama's Last Supper, a finely composed work electric with wit and many currents of meaning, is here in all its hard-hitting glory. So are the poetic street compositions of Nathaniel Burkins and Beuford Smith and Chuck Stewart's elegant portrait of John and Alice Coltrane. Every photograph in this powerful collection is "charged with a mythic energy," as critic and New York University professor Clyde Taylor writes in his introductory essay, because images of "the Black face" are still new and unsettling within the context of Western art. The political is, indeed, wed to the aesthetic in these exceptional works, and each photograph generates its own particular jolt of revelation, while bathing the viewer in its own unique form of beauty. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Merrell Publishers (January 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1858941237
• ISBN-13: 978-1858941233
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 9.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,175,793 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Beauty Of - And Within - A Culture, April 30, 2001

By 

J. Koskinen (Kansas City, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Committed to the Image: Contemporary Black Photographers (Hardcover)

A wonderful book, revealing not only those things that make a culture unique, but showing the individual uniqueness of those operating and living within that culture. This books dispels myths that suggest we all think alike, look alike, perceive alike. There is vision here; there is perspective, and it's uniquely African-American, and highly artistic as well as educational.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Image is Beautiful, August 2, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Committed to the Image: Contemporary Black Photographers (Hardcover)

A wonderfully illustrated compilation of interesting photography. Decent. Somewhat reminds one of G. Parks' work (some does appear here). One does not have to be a photographer to appreciate this book. Explosion of creative expressions. Contemporary photography, --indeed!