Jerome Liebling: The Minnesota Photographs 1949-1969 [Hardcover]

Jerome Liebling (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 1997

Here in more than a hundred photographs is portrayed Liebling's Minnesota. During two decades marked by social, political and cultural change, Liebling travelled the state and found his largest subject -- the depiction and interpretation of commonplace human experience. The images range from the grain elevators and skid row of Minneapolis to the slaughterhouses in South St. Paul and the poor, working-class streets of St. Paul's West Side; from the Iron Range and the Red Lake Indian reservation in the north to the farming towns in the south. The vision of Minnesota that emerges from the extraordinary photographs is uniquely that of the artist, yet it leads viewers effortlessly to an enhanced understanding of the places, the times, and, always, the people.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

When photographer Jerome Liebling went to Minnesota in 1949 to establish one of the earliest university programs in photography, he also began to document that heartland state in his warm, humanistic style. New York bred and a member of the documentary Photo League, he adapted to Minnesota with surprising sympathy and insight. This beautiful collection of black-and-white images focuses on the state's people more than its physical environment. Liebling's respect for the full humanity of his subjects shines out most brightly. The book invites comparison with The Face of Minnesota (1958) by John Szarkowski, a documentary project funded by the Minnesota Statehood Centennial Commission, for Liebling and Szarkowski share a photographic style and respect for the moment. Still, Szarkowski's book is more a work of public relations than Liebling's is. Of course, Liebling could be said to be a publicist for humanity itself. He depicted, without sentimentality, every individual he photographed with well-lighted clarity and moving dignity. Gretchen Garner

Review

"I have seen hundreds of photographers during my years in public life, none better, or more creative, than Jerry Liebling. He always gave you the feeling of genius and of caring. His photographs justify that feeling." Mondale was also a U.S. Sentaor for Minnesota -- Walter F. Mondale, former Vice-President of the U.S.A.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 134 pages
• Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press (May 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873513541
• ISBN-13: 978-0873513548
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 10.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #443,243 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:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very important book filled with iconographic photographs., August 19, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Jerome Liebling: The Minnesota Photographs 1949-1969 (Hardcover)

This is a must have book for anyone intereted in photography. Jerry Liebling is one of the truly important photographers in this country. His work is in every major museum collection. Yet, he is almost unknown outside photographic and academic circles. "The Minnesota Photographs" offer a glimpse at an era that Liebling captures in his own very personal, insightful way. These are powerful pictures from the 1950's and 60's. Familiar, new, fresh, inspiring. George Wallace on the campaign trail surrounded by disinterested cronies. Eugene McCarthy and Hubert Humphrey at a baseball game. A commodities trade, his head buried in a handfull of soy beans, a home for retarded people, a slaughter house, boys hanging out on the street. It's great to see a body of his work from a particular era, not just a few pictures representing different subjects. Roger Sherman New York City