Paris: Photographs from a Time That Was (Art Institute of Chicago) [Hardcover]

David Travis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 11, 2005 | Series: Art Institute of Chicago

Eugène Atget, Jacques Henri Lartigue, André Kertész, Brassaï, Henri Cartier- Bresson, Robert Doisneau—some of the greatest photographers of Paris—were relatively unknown when they began their most innovative work. Not yet burdened with conventional career expectations, they found the city the perfect environment in which to invent and develop an entirely new approach to conceiving the photographic image. In the 1920s and 1930s, the generation of photographers after Atget responded not only to the physical city itself but also to a new sensibility of time as a spontaneous act.

Masterworks by these now-famous visionaries of the medium are featured in this elegant book of photographs of Paris from the 1850s to the 1950s, drawn from the remarkable collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. David Travis introduces the book with an insightful essay on how these photographers inherited the culture of walking in and observing Paris from Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Charles Baudelaire, and the boulevard flâneurs of the late nineteenth century. Their acceptance and celebration of the fluidity of the city’s street life became the chief virtue of their profession as photojournalists for the new illustrated magazines that would eventually make them famous.

Paris: Photographs of a Time That Was is a marvelous tribute to the “City of Light” and the photography that it inspired.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Travis is curator of Photography at the Art Institute of Chicago. His previous books include At the Edge of the Light: Thoughts on Photography and Photographers, Talent and Genius (2003) and Taken by Design: Photographs from the Institute of Design, 1937–1971 (2002).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 100 pages
• Publisher: Art Institute of Chicago (September 11, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300113935
• ISBN-13: 978-0300113938
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 9.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 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: #1,627,603 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous collection of photos of old Paris, August 7, 2011

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L. S. Reed "roadrunner" (Virginia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Paris: Photographs from a Time That Was (Art Institute of Chicago) (Hardcover)

A very well-selected sampling of a century's worth (1850s-1950s) of black and white photos of Paris. Everyone is represented here, from Atget to Stieglitz to Man Ray to Cartier-Bresson to Irving Penn to Robert Frank, and many others.

The photos include dramatic shots of familiar scenes and many photos of ordinary and un-ordinary Parisians going about their lives. Obviously, they run the gamut from the glass plate negative era to the Leica 35 mm and the styles vary widely. Some are very formal, posed affairs, some are "decisive moment" snapshots, and many are that ambiguous middle, seemingly candid shots but in reality staged and scripted by the photographer. The introductory essay is a little bit "artsy," but it's well worth reading. It discusses all the photographers, describes how they worked, and is very useful in understanding what you're seeing.

If you have any interest in the Paris that was, you won't be disappointed.