Icons of Photography: The 20th Century (Prestel's Icons) [Hardcover]

Peter Stepan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1999 | Series: Prestel's Icons

Ninety of this century's best photographers are presented in this richly illustrated volume, which reflects the multiplicity of the 20th-century's artistic movements.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The third of Prestel's "Icon" series, which is devoted to gathering landmark work from a featured medium, this chronological assembly of 90 photographers, from Berenice Abbott to Heinrich Zille, offers a carefully gathered spectrum of photography in this century. Each artist is given a two-page spread, including a portrait shot and an example of a key image; there are 165 images in all, representing the artists' best and most challenging work. In the hands of these daring practitioners, photography looks like a tool of revelation, with imagination, mystery, and the range of human experience on display throughout. These captured instantsAframed, composed, labored over, and at times accidentalAcreate an important legacy that will be reviewed for a long time to come. They also reveal what parts of the 20th century have looked like. Recommended for the value of its content and its careful, consistent presentation of great photography.ADavid Bryant, New Canaan P.L., CT
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Prestel Publishing; First Edition edition (April 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3791320017
• ISBN-13: 978-3791320014
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #426,468 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Photos of people during the earlier 20th century., May 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Icons of Photography: The 20th Century (Prestel's Icons) (Hardcover)

It is a fabulous book for black and white enthusiasts; however tends to be bland overall. It basically gives you a brief bio of the photographer, and two of his/her photos. Not much variety in the work, but great for anyone looking for a book of basic b & w works, and also would be nice as a coffe table piece.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Especially Iconographic, January 28, 2006

By 

Marco Antonio Abarca (Colorado) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Icons of Photography: The 20th Century (Prestel's Icons) (Hardcover)

This volume sells itself as an invaluable collection of the century's most powerful and moving images featuring some 160 masterpieces by more than 90 photographers from 1900 to 2000. Honestly, maybe one half of the photos collected in this book truly deserve to be called icons. Any reasonably well educated person should be able to immediately place an iconic photo. An example being Robert Capa's "Death of a Loyalist Solider". This is the single most famous image of the Spanish Civil War and most reasonably well educated people will know it. Martin Parr's "Sediscombe, from "Think of England", does not quite hit the mark.

This book was produced by the German Publishing Company, Prestel. In turn, many of the 90 photographers exhibited in this book are German. Quite frankly, I have never heard of many of these photographers. If I were German, maybe I would know their works. The other weakness of this book are a number of images from contemporary photogaphers. Although the images are interesting, not enough time has passed to raise them to the level of icons.

This is an interesting book but by no means are all the 160 photos presented masterpieces nor the 90 photographers all masters of the art of photography. A good book to purchase in the discount bin.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't live up to the title, February 19, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Icons of Photography: The 20th Century (Prestel's Icons) (Hardcover)

Not a bad book at all. In fact, it contains some truly iconic photographs. It also contains a lot of mundane photographs, and as a result doesn't really live up to the title of the book. I agree with the oldest review (May 1999) below -- too many rather bland photos (and yes, almost all are black-and-white).