Until the 1960s, Detroit was one of America's most important cities, a hub of industry with a population of almost two million and a skyline to rival that of any U.S. city. Its buildings were monuments to its success and vitality in the first half of the twentieth century. At the start of the twenty-first century, those same monuments are now ruins: the United Artists Theater, the Whitney Building, the Farwell Building and the once ravishing Michigan Central Station (unused since 1988) today look as if a bomb had dropped on Motor City, leaving behind the ruins of a once great civilization. In a series of weekly photographic bulletins for Time magazine called "Detroit's Beautiful, Horrible Decline," photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre have been revealing to an astonished America the scale of decay in Detroit. "The state of ruin is essentially a temporary situation that happens at some point, the volatile result of change of era and the fall of empires," write Marchand and Meffre. "Photography appeared to us as a modest way to keep a little bit of this ephemeral state." As Detroit's white middle class continues to abandon the city center for its dispersed suburbs, and its downtown high-rises empty out, these astounding images, which convey both the imperious grandeur of the city's architecture and its genuinely shocking decline, preserve a moment that warns us all of the transience of great epochs.
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41 of 42 people found the following review helpful
By Robin Benson
Format:Hardcover
It must be galling for an art book publisher, spending a lot of time and money on a title, only to find that a very similar book is published at the same time. This happened in 2010 with two excellent photo books covering in detail the ruins of Detroit.
I bought Andrew Moore: Detroit Disassembled first and thought it rather impressive with seventy photos in a landscape format but Marchand and Meffre's book is a much more ambitious and comprehensive look at this fallen city with 186 large photos. As one would expect with photographers looking at the same subject there is some duplication. Intriguingly, right down to a wall clock in the Cass Technical High school, which both books show because it looks like a real life Dali melting clock face.
The photos in The Ruins of Detroit follow a sort of format starting with interiors and exteriors of factories then: interiors of commercial buildings; theaters and cinemas; schools; apartments; churches; police stations; hotels and more schools. The decay is just so overwhelming because this isn't just a few abandoned factories, which could happen anywhere but whole communities occupying hundreds of acres. The thing that intrigued me with Moore's book and this one is that so many of the photos show interiors: classrooms; dentists; libraries or a police office with everything still intact, though admittedly now strewn everywhere. It's as if the everyone just left in a hurry leaving everything behind.
One really strong point about these photos is that they haven't concentrated on lots of close-ups of abandoned detail. I reviewed The Blue Room with photos by Eugene Richards of empty houses on the Great Plains. Far too many close-ups of clothes and personal belongings completely diluted the sense of ruin that these tumble down houses possessed. Marchand and Meffre have stood back from this detail and allowed the overall ruin and decay to capture your eyes. Their photos do it so well too, with beautiful compositions, framing and color.
This has to be considered the perfect photo book. Large format (check out the Product Details) with a photo a page and mostly all the same size though there are six pages of houses that have four on each. Nicely for a quality art photo book there are detailed captions under each photo instead of the nonsense of putting them all on some back page. Another thoughtful touch are the occasional pages with some text to explain the subsequent pictures. The printing uses a 175 screen for the photos on semi-gloss matt art paper.
Photo books of ruins, whether in cities or in the landscape, seems to be an expanding genre but the two books about Detroit, especially this one, have probably exhausted the visual potential. I doubt anyone can improve on Marchand and Meffre's remarkable efforts in these pages.
+++LOOK AT SOME INSIDE PAGES by clicking 'customer image' under the cover.
I bought Andrew Moore: Detroit Disassembled first and thought it rather impressive with seventy photos in a landscape format but Marchand and Meffre's book is a much more ambitious and comprehensive look at this fallen city with 186 large photos. As one would expect with photographers looking at the same subject there is some duplication. Intriguingly, right down to a wall clock in the Cass Technical High school, which both books show because it looks like a real life Dali melting clock face.
The photos in The Ruins of Detroit follow a sort of format starting with interiors and exteriors of factories then: interiors of commercial buildings; theaters and cinemas; schools; apartments; churches; police stations; hotels and more schools. The decay is just so overwhelming because this isn't just a few abandoned factories, which could happen anywhere but whole communities occupying hundreds of acres. The thing that intrigued me with Moore's book and this one is that so many of the photos show interiors: classrooms; dentists; libraries or a police office with everything still intact, though admittedly now strewn everywhere. It's as if the everyone just left in a hurry leaving everything behind.
One really strong point about these photos is that they haven't concentrated on lots of close-ups of abandoned detail. I reviewed The Blue Room with photos by Eugene Richards of empty houses on the Great Plains. Far too many close-ups of clothes and personal belongings completely diluted the sense of ruin that these tumble down houses possessed. Marchand and Meffre have stood back from this detail and allowed the overall ruin and decay to capture your eyes. Their photos do it so well too, with beautiful compositions, framing and color.
This has to be considered the perfect photo book. Large format (check out the Product Details) with a photo a page and mostly all the same size though there are six pages of houses that have four on each. Nicely for a quality art photo book there are detailed captions under each photo instead of the nonsense of putting them all on some back page. Another thoughtful touch are the occasional pages with some text to explain the subsequent pictures. The printing uses a 175 screen for the photos on semi-gloss matt art paper.
Photo books of ruins, whether in cities or in the landscape, seems to be an expanding genre but the two books about Detroit, especially this one, have probably exhausted the visual potential. I doubt anyone can improve on Marchand and Meffre's remarkable efforts in these pages.
+++LOOK AT SOME INSIDE PAGES by clicking 'customer image' under the cover.
35 of 39 people found the following review helpful
By T. Rooks
Format:Hardcover
This is one of the most amazing books that I have seen in a long long time. Besides being quite large, it is well-crafted both physically and content-wise. The photographs are printed in such a large format that tiny details come bouncing out.
One does not need to be from Detroit to see the significance and sadness behind the images- they are universal. But the opening essay on the city's history is consise yet enlightening and short narratives by the photographers throughout the book help navigate the scenes. Industry at its worst.
The book is filled with artwork and is a work of art itself.
One does not need to be from Detroit to see the significance and sadness behind the images- they are universal. But the opening essay on the city's history is consise yet enlightening and short narratives by the photographers throughout the book help navigate the scenes. Industry at its worst.
The book is filled with artwork and is a work of art itself.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By moon
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
(please excuse my bad English)
The Ruins of Detroit is a gorgeous big book. It is filled with the most beautiful pictures made by two great photographers who photographed Detroit inside and out over a period of time. They show the magnificent buildings the city is famous for and the horrific state they are in. Or were in, cause part of the buildings in the book no longer exist.
The images themselves are scaring still lifes of what happens to a building and the things in it when times are no longer as good as they were when the library, the theater, the train station and so on were built, or when there's simply no use for them any longer for all kinds of reasons. They remind of the life that was in it, the people who used it once. They're not in the picture, those people, but you can almost feel their presence, especially in the ones where the room pictured seems to been abondoned just a minute ago.
The best pictures are the ones which you can keep looking at and keep discovering new things in over and over again. Of these pictures, there are dozens in this book.
The Ruins of Detroit is a gorgeous big book. It is filled with the most beautiful pictures made by two great photographers who photographed Detroit inside and out over a period of time. They show the magnificent buildings the city is famous for and the horrific state they are in. Or were in, cause part of the buildings in the book no longer exist.
The images themselves are scaring still lifes of what happens to a building and the things in it when times are no longer as good as they were when the library, the theater, the train station and so on were built, or when there's simply no use for them any longer for all kinds of reasons. They remind of the life that was in it, the people who used it once. They're not in the picture, those people, but you can almost feel their presence, especially in the ones where the room pictured seems to been abondoned just a minute ago.
The best pictures are the ones which you can keep looking at and keep discovering new things in over and over again. Of these pictures, there are dozens in this book.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
American Dystopia - Thanks Democrats!
There is no need to expand further on the merits of this book all of the five star ratings attest to its achievement. Read more
Published 2 months ago by jpcooper
5.0 out of 5 stars
It was a gift - and they loved it!
I gave this book to my father in law who is a history buff and native Michigander. While not from Detroit, he loved the book, or more accurately was amazed by it.
Published 4 months ago by D. Mahan
2.0 out of 5 stars
Standard Nothing Special Pictures
This book has just standard unimaginative picture of Detroit
in ruin. It looks like it took about a week to shoot. There are none
of the quirky pictures (example.... Read more
in ruin. It looks like it took about a week to shoot. There are none
of the quirky pictures (example.... Read more
Published 4 months ago by will baisley
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great add to your library.
I've always been drawn to images of abandonment and decay. There is a unique beauty to them, and there is a unique beauty to this book. Read more
Published 13 months ago by KNH771
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding Photography
For those who feel the pathos of the fall into ruins that Detroit has experienced, this fine book is a superb journey.
Published 14 months ago by Inca Ruler
5.0 out of 5 stars
An amazing effort
I grew up in one of the suburbs surrounding Detroit, however while a high school student in the early 1960s, I would often take the Woodward Avenue Bus to the Detroit River, walk... Read more
Published 15 months ago by David Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars
Buy it but don't leave it in the TSA chattels tray;
Bought as a birthday gift for someone very special here in Australia that; loves everything motor city.
I had Amazon send it to Mums in Pennsylvania. Read more
I had Amazon send it to Mums in Pennsylvania. Read more
Published 15 months ago by jeff belli
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Ruins of Detroit
Marchand & Meffre's portrait of a once great city's decline is both sad and fascinating. The book features 186 images of the interiors and exteriors of abandoned factories,... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Gordon Ross
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spectacular photography but depressing
This is a wonderfully well done book. I have to admit that I have never been to Detroit but I have for a long time been fascinated with urban decay. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Kurious Oranj
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful and moving book
Incredible photographs of the decaying buildings of Detroit. Photographs themselves and the print quality of the book is amazing. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Maureen
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