Amazon.com Review
Nearly every one of the 500 black-and-white pictures in this book is a miraculous blend of composition and content, placing photographer Elliott Erwitt right up there with the other postwar, 20th-century masters of moment and meaning. Erwitt writes in his introduction, "This is not a book of dog pictures but of dogs in pictures." It is the photograph that counts, above and beyond its subject, for the photographer of genius. But Erwitt is bound to be called a sentimentalist because he photographs dogs, whom we, in our species-centric way, tend to think of as, well, animals. If Erwitt proves anything, however, it is that our close relationship with these furry fellow travelers is due to mutual resemblance. There is a Native American myth that when the world was created, a great fissure began to split the earth. Humans were caught on one side of the chasm, animals on the other. The dog, however, seeing the gap widen, leaped across to the human side, where he has been ever since. This book captures the pleasures of our loyal, dependent friends, as well as their sorrows and disappointment when they are forced to adapt to human callousness, neglect, or even love. Erwitt sees the dignity of the ankle-high Chihuahua; the anxiety of the homeless hound; the smugness of the adored dachshund, sitting on its chaise longue in the noonday sun; the patience of the pom-pommed poodle; and the gormless joy of a homely but well-loved pug. In his vast range of emotion, and in his easygoing but precise mastery of the abstract elements of composition, Elliott Erwitt has made himself the Cartier-Bresson of the canine world.
--Peggy Moorman
Product Description
Magnum photographer Elliott Erwitt, claims that he did not consciously set out to photograph dogs. According to him, it just happened that way: one day, when he was looking through his boxes of photographs, he realized that somehow or other a fair proportion of them contained dogs and their owners. Images of dogs at shows, dogs in crowds larking around together, dogs jumping in the air for joy, dogs sitting on hearthrugs, beaches, sofas, park benches. And these were all sorts of dogs - from Airedales to Highland terriers and from poodles to dachshunds. This book presents 500 of Elliott Erwitt's dog photographs, divided into horizontal and vertical shots with short captions detailing the place and year. As P.G. Wodehouse, who was a great admirer of Elliott Erwitt's, says in his short introductory text, "What superb photographs these are. It does one good to look at them. There is not one sitter in his gallery who does not melt the heart."
by Elliott Erwitt
by Peter Mayle
by Elliott Erwitt
by Sharon Montrose
