Stanley Kubrick: Drama & Shadows (Hardcover)

~ Rainer Crone (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Born in New York City in 1928, Stanley Kubrick began taking photographs when in high school. At sixteen, he sent a photograph he took of a newsstand after President Roosevelt’s death to Look Magazine. The publication of the photograph marked the beginning of Kubrick’s work for the magazine, which lasted until 1950, when Kubrick made his first 16mm documentary film. During those five years Kubrick completed dozens of photographic reportage assignments in New York City as well as abroad. The resulting thousands of negatives have remained in the archives of Look Magazine ever since.

Kubrick’s photographs vary in subject, but people are the central focus of attention, as is his commitment to narration. Whether capturing the meditative state of passengers in a series of portraits made in the New York subway, following famous boxer Rocky Graziano on the ring and in intimate moments, portraying the coming of age of socialite Betsy Von Fürstenberg, or narrating the tale of a shoe-shine boy in the streets of New York City, Kubrick draws psychological portraits that combine drama, irony, and often mystery, anticipating his trademark cinematic style.

If Kubrick’s photographs are fascinating accounts of life in the late 1940s, they are also a major contribution to American photography of that era. At nineteen, Kubrick already had an immense talent in constructing complex compositions in which camera positioning and lighting played a crucial role.

The book is introduced by an essay by Rainer Crone, who also edited the selection of photographs for this book. Crone is an expert on Kubrick’s photographic work, and has already published a catalogue on this subject (see Related Titles below). An art historian, he gives context and examines Kubrick’s photographs in relation to not only his later films but also the history of twentieth-century art and photography. Crone also wrote short introductions to most stories in the book.

An invaluable contribution to the history of photography, this book explores how one of the most influential and successful film directors of our time used photography to master visual techniques and cultivate his signature style.

About the Author

Rainer Crone holds the Chair for 20th Century Art and Media at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich, Germany. Formerly an Associate Professor of Art History at Columbia University, he is the author of the first monograph on Andy Warhol (1970), and has since widely published on twentieth century art and artists. His most recent books include: Louise Bourgeois, the Secret of the Cells (Prestel, 1998), Auguste Rodin: Eros and Creativity (Prestel, 1991), and Kasimir Malevitch: The Climax of Disclosure (Reaktion Books, 1991). He lives in Munich, Germany and Hampton Bays, New York.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press; First Edition edition (December 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714844381
• ISBN-13: 978-0714844381
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 10.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #336,634 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great photographs, February 28, 2006

By	Carl Maxwell - See all my reviews

The photographs in this book are worth the price of it. If you're a Kubrick fan, you can't do without it. The photographs teach more about film than a dozen histories.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Phenomenal compilation of regrettably forgotten works..., April 4, 2006

By	inframan (the lower depths) - See all my reviews

These are masterpieces of insightful timing & guerrila portraiture. Avedon said photography was mostly lies - photographs only captured an instant in time & usually the wrong instant. Kubrick almost always managed to get the right instant. That's great photography!

9 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sheds some light on Kubrick but does not stand alone as photography, March 31, 2006

By	blackshredder (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

The editors of this book were wise in prominently placing the photo that you see here on the cover. It is the most distinct and mysterious image in a book of otherwise indistinct work. Most of the photos are commercial and are interesting in so far as they reveal little hints of Kubrick's budding genius for mis-en-scene. But as photos the work doesn't stand alone very well, nor was it intended to.