Icons & Idols: A Photographer's Chronicle of the Arts, 1960-1995 [Hardcover]

Jack Mitchell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1998

In a powerful Foreword, playwright Edward Albee says, "I am constantly startled by how much of the 'soul' of each one has been captured in these photographs. . . ". Captions with each portrait reveal such luminaries as Lauren Bacall, Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, and many others. 160 illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

This book distills the finest results of Jack Mitchell's own artistic mission to portray the greatest actors, dancers, painters, composers, writers, choreographers, and musicians of his day. Mitchells' camera explored pop and classical artists, making this volume a treasure for culture buffs and photography lovers alike. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Edward Albee was born on March 12, 1928. He was adopted as an infant by Reid Albee, the son of Edward Franklin Albee of the powerful Keith-Albee vaudeville chain. He was raised in great affluence and sent to preparatory and military schools. ending his formal education after a year and a half at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Albee often clashed with his mother and eventually left home when he was 20 and moved to New York's Greenwich Village. Albee's first job was writing continuity dialogue for radio station WNYC. After using up the inheritance from his paternal grandmother, he took a variety of menial jobs until 1959 when The Zoo Story made him a famous playwright, first in Europe, where it premiered in Berlin, and then in New York. In 1960 it won the Vernon Rice Memorial Award. Albee's first and major "hit" was Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? which opened on Broadway in 1963. It ran for 664 performances and was made into a film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and is probably Albee's most well known work. 1966's A Delicate Balance won Albee his first Pulitzer Prize. In 1975, Albee won his second Pulitzer with Seascape, and then his third with Three Tall Women in 1991. Three Tall Women enjoyed a sold-out success in New York and has been staged across the country and around the world. It received Best Play awards from the New York Drama Critics Circle and Outer Critics Circle. Albee has written 25 plays and over the years has received an impressive number of awards including two Tony Awards. Albee also teaches at the School of Theatre of the University of Houston and gives lectures on his work at colleges around the US. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publications; 1ST edition (October 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0817440259
• ISBN-13: 978-0817440251
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 9.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,040,495 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Each photograph makes you feel like you are touching a star., December 21, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Icons & Idols: A Photographer's Chronicle of the Arts, 1960-1995 (Hardcover)

Jack Mitchell has worked magic in transforming his photographs into works of art that explode with life. They are vibrant and alive, capturing the essence of each 'Icon and Idol'. By the very nature of celebrity we think we "know" these people. Mr. Mitchell has captured these public people by penetrating through the veneer to take us into their respective souls. His photographs are pure works of art that one never gets tired of viewing.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't be fooled by the rip-off titles of other photogs., April 18, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Icons & Idols: A Photographer's Chronicle of the Arts, 1960-1995 (Hardcover)

Mr. Mitchell has done simply an outstanding and unique job as a photographer of famous people. There is another book out with a similar title that is inferior in all respects. Stick with ICONS AND IDOLS by Jack Mitchell.

5.0 out of 5 stars a masterpiece oeuvre erupts from the pages, October 31, 2008

By 

Edward A. Schatz "architectural archivist" (lakewood, california) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Icons and Idols: A Photographer's Chronicle of the Arts, 1960-1995 (Hardcover)

As an ersatz photographer, I am aware of what it takes in some small degree to photograph people, no less celebrities. Jack Mitchell's persona allows those about him to drop all pretense and expose themselves to the world in a glimpse of a moment frozen forever in time through Jack's lemses. The rarity of capturing that elusive moment is a particulate spot made available to a select few. And that is as rare as the individual behind the camera, Jack Mitchell is such a rarity and his photographs should be an iconic moment frozen in our psyche forever. There were many individuals photographed here from a different era whom I was unfamiliar with, and this will lead me to discover a bit more about their lives and who they were at the time that photograph was shuttered. This book is a monolith monument, get a copy while it is available.