Engaged Observers: Documentary Photography Since the Sixties [Hardcover]

Brett Abbott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 20, 2010

This is a superbly illustrated survey of photographers at the forefront of the development of independent, critically engaged photojournalism. In the decades following WWII, an independently minded, critically engaged form of photojournalism began to flourish. It was not destined for the morning papers or exclusively for newsmagazines, and it did not attempt to be neutral. This kind of photojournalism was self-assigned. It declared its independence from the mainstream media's editorial control, and it was disseminated to the public through books, exhibitions, articles, and, more recently, the Web. "Engaged Observers" offers a critical survey of the work of nine photographers at the forefront of the documentary approach - Leonard Freed ("Black in White America"), Philip Jones Griffiths ("Vietnam Inc."), W. Eugene Smith ("Minamata"), Susan Meiselas ("Nicaragua: June 1978-July 1979"), Mary Ellen Mark ("Streetwise"), Larry Towell ("The Mennonites"), Sebastiao Salgado ("Migrations"), Lauren Greenfield ("Girl Culture"), and James Nachtwey ("The Sacrifice"). Each section opens with an introductory essay that sets the work in its evolving historical context.

Editorial Reviews

Review

 “The camera’s might as the teller of history and societal critic is in full vigor in this remarkable collection.  Anyone with a taste for this brand of photography will be richly rewarded.  Highly recommended.”—Library Journal

 “These documentarians have tackled subjects that range from race relations and war to eating disorders and mass migrations. Departing from the confines of traditional photojournalism, they have combined their skills as reporters with their personal vision as artists.”—Montreal Gazette

 “Showing the past and its hardships, these evocative photos surely transcend the realm of traditional photojournalism.”—Photo Review

“Some of the best documentary photography of the twentieth century.”—Seattle Times

About the Author

Brett Abbott is associate curator in the Department of Photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 236 pages
• Publisher: Getty Publications; 1 edition (July 20, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1606060228
• ISBN-13: 978-1606060223
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 11.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #661,201 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'Is there any place darker than in the darkness of our souls?', July 12, 2010

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Engaged Observers: Documentary Photography Since the Sixties (Hardcover)

Now and again museums gather the courage to present to the public an exhibItion that takes a mighty risk, an exhibition about a subject so difficult to cope with that many museum boards fear the people will stay away in droves. Gratefully the public is more curious and has a hunger to know about those aspects of living that are not a part of their own safe little immediate worlds. They happen to step into exhibitions such as the superbly moving ENGAGED OBSERVERS: INDEPENDENT PHOTOJOURNALISM, 1962 - 2007 now showing at The Getty Museum and their lives are changed. This superb catalog is a condensation of that exhibition, and for those unable to see the breathless museum collection, this book says it all.

Instead of the regular photojournalists paid to document with their cameras a 'happening', these artists represented here have independently sought out realities they felt compelled to share. The result is a wide spectrum of agony made real by the curatorial statement of both the exhibition and this accompanying catalogue by Brett Abbott. Here are the long missing photographs form Philip Jones Griffiths' VIETNAM, INC - a portfolio of images form the Vietnam experience a968 - 1971; James Nachtwey equally brittle diagnosis of the treatment of casualties in Iraq; W. Eugene Smith's photo-documentation (with his wife Aileen's commentary) of the little fishing village, Minamata, in Japan where mercury was corporately dumped in the water, killing and disfiguring the townspeople; Lauren Greenfield's statement in photographs of the at times very cruel variations on 'Girl Culture'; Sebastiao Salgado's images of the masses of the world rushing toward anything better than what they have in 'Migrations'; Susan Meiselas' documentation of the revolution in Nicaragua in 1978 -1979; Leonard Freed's very touching examination of the interaction of races in 'Black in White America'; and Larry Towell's inside look at 'The Mennonites'.

The title of the book and the exhibition states it well, calling these photojournalists 'critically engaged', and the amazing aspect of the selection of artists is the fact that they felt driven to the need to discover and share aspects of life too distant from our media and yet so very necessary to understanding our planet. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, July 10

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars history in the making, August 3, 2010

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S. Bloom (Van Nuys CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Engaged Observers: Documentary Photography Since the Sixties (Hardcover)

Very well put together with historical photos. The photographers recorded history in the making. Good and bad.