Elliot Erwitt Snaps [Paperback]

Elliott Erwitt (Photographer), SMITH (Designer)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2003

Containing over 500 pictures, this is a comprehensive survey of the work of photographer Elliott Erwitt. It features his famous images like Nikita Kruschev and Richard Nixon arguing in Moscow in 1959 and Marilyn Monroe with the cast of the movie "The Misfits", along with many more personal images of places, things, people and animals. Erwitt's unmistakable, often witty style gives us a snapshot of the famous and the ordinary, the strange and the mundane over a period of more than half a century. The foreword is written by Murray Sayle and there are chapter introductions by Charles Flowers. Both writers are personal friends and admirers of Erwitt. Broken into nine chapters with single word titles such as "Read", "Move", "Play" and "Tell", the images in each chapter relate to the title, sometimes literally, sometimes obliquely, sometimes punningly and often ambiguously - in keeping with Erwitt's playful style.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'The hallmarks of an Erwitt classic: the ability to spot an absurd juxtaposition and to record it with childlike delight... This tome shows that he hasn't lost any of the visual wit that makes one relish his pictures, while, at the same time, recognizing the melancholy that infuses any realization of the arbitrariness of existence.' (Time Out); 'Rare among photographers, Erwitt can make you laugh out loud (just turn to pages 86-87), but his scope is Tolstoyan. This 550-page retrospective will absorb you for years.' (Independent); 'An essential career-spanning retrospective that reveals Erwitt's unassuming wit, brilliant framing and deep humanity.' (New York Post)

About the Author

One of the leading photographers of his generation, Elliott Erwitt has been taking pictures since the late forties. A member of the prestigious Magnum agency since 1954 (one of the first members), he has photographed all over the world and his images have been the subject of many books and exhibitions. He is widely published and exhibited (including a one-man show at MOMA). Photographer's residence: New York, USA

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press; First Edition edition (June 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 071484330X
• ISBN-13: 978-0714843308
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 7.6 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #441,586 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Erwitt Retrospective, June 12, 2004

By 

Richard Drdul (Vancouver, BC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Elliot Erwitt Snaps (Paperback)

I really like Elliott Erwitt's photos, and his sense of humour. All my favourite Erwitt photos are included in this book, plus a whole bunch more enjoyable images. The photos are well laid out and the printing quality is very good. The only minor complaint I have is that a small number of photos are spread across two pages, and because the book is so damn thick, it's difficult to open the book fully and view these images properly.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Let Me Disagree, December 4, 2007

By 

Terrance M. Carroll (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Elliot Erwitt Snaps (Paperback)

Elliott Erwitt is among my favorite photographers, and it's really nice to have so many of his images, familiar and less-so, in one handy volume. But this book is not well designed. I'm at a loss how other reviewers could say that it is.

The book's format is distinctly vertical, and yet maybe half of its images are horizontal. For the vertical images, this book is great. But for the horizontal images, this book is a disaster: they are shrunk to fit the page width, and because they then take up less than half the book's page height, they are either stacked one on top of the other, to great distraction, or they are presented alone, at the top of the page, with an ocean of blank paper sitting below them.

Another reviewer has noted the poor performance of the book's spine to accommodate those occasional "full-size" horizontal images that split across the gutter. This is the bane of photo books. Publishers, please stop. Publish images flat, one per page, un-crowded, un-distracted. Given that Erwitt seems to not favor horizontal nor vertical, a square page design is called for.

At the top of this review, I noted how nice it was to have so many of Erwitt's images in one book. Yes, but let me also note that there are, in this rare case, too many. There is a lot of redundancy of similar images, with the second- and third-best of various sets displayed with equal weight as the obvious superior image. It pains me to say that, because usually I am complaining about the stingy number of images we're allowed to see.

And the text? Forget about it. Just drivel. Why are photo books so poorly written?

Nevertheless, all said and complaints duly lodged, I truly love Erwitt's view of the world. And it isn't just that his pictures are funny. Like any good verbal comedian, his stuff works so well because his craft is so expertly honed. His compositions are very tight, his lines are very straight, his timing is impeccable. For the price of this book, in terms of value, it deserves more than three stars. (And Erwitt, himself, gets an automatic five.) But some balance needs to be given to offset the grade inflation that I think is going on with the other fans of Erwitt, tossing around stars.

Buy it, enjoy it, but don't confuse five-star photography with a five-star book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Antología de un buen fotógrafo, July 31, 2002

By 

Javier Herrero Valle (Segovia, Segovia Spain) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elliot Erwitt Snaps (Hardcover)

Una edición impresinante: mas de 500 fotos en calidad FOTO! parecen reales... toda la obra de uno de los mejores fotógrafos del siglo...