Ghost in the Shell: Photography and the Human Soul, 1850-2000 [Paperback]

Robert A. Sobieszek (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 19, 1999

Ghost in the Shell takes as its premise the idea that the outer person is a reflection of the inner. Tracing the modern photographic portrait over the past 150 years, the book reveals the many ways the photographic arts have investigated, represented, interpreted, and subverted the human face and, consequently, the human spirit. Artists have used the genre not only to convey familiar emotions such as fear, love, sadness, and anger, but also to explore complex subjective states such as passionate individuality and psychological withdrawal. Different avant-garde movements have enlisted farce, masks, and masquerade in their charting of the human character, and many postmodern works employ irony and ambiguity to deal with issues of identity, gender, and dissociation.The book, which accompanies an exhibition opening at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in October 1999, is organized roughly chronologically around the traditional, modernist, and postmodernist views of the face, although the primary approach of one period often appears in the others. The artists discussed include, among others, Diane Arbus, Julia Margaret Cameron, Edward Curtis, Salvador Dali, Duchenne de Boulogne, Dorothea Lange, Annie Leibowitz, Bruce Nauman, Orlan, William Parker, Irving Penn, Lucas Samaras, Cindy Sherman, Andy Warhol, and Edward Weston.Published in cooperation with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert A. Sobieszek is Curatorial Co-Chair and Curator of Photography at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Product Details

• Paperback: 324 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (November 19, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262692287
• ISBN-13: 978-0262692281
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 11.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #756,869 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Visual Feast, April 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Ghost in the Shell: Photography and the Human Soul, 1850-2000 (Paperback)

I found this book to be a very rich and inspiring perspective on the historic use of photography. Wonderfully illustrated with examples from the beginnings of photo-experimentation to masters like Richard Avedon, this tome is worth buying for the illustrations alone. If you like this comprehensive analysis of the frisson between representation and being, I also recommend "Pictures of the Body, Pain & Metamorphosis" by James Elkins.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A tour guides opinion, December 28, 2000

By 

"spinze" (Berkeley, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ghost in the Shell: Photography and the Human Soul, 1850-2000 (Paperback)

As a former tour guide for the Ghost in the Shell exhibit, i can honestly say that this book is a grat compilation of the works. While the pictures alone show the depth and richness of the exhibit, the text is used well and provides a great source of info for the reader. It is a great addition to any colletion of art books.

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of service, October 11, 2009

By 

D. E. Camp (Philadelphia, Pa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ghost in the Shell: Photography and the Human Soul, 1850-2000 (Paperback)

This service was excellent and the item was as described. I thought it was going to be a few weeks but it arrived within a few days. I'm happy when I can get a good book that is not well known, early.