Washington By Night: Vintage Photographs from the 30s [Paperback]

Volkmar Wentzel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 11, 1998

Armed with a camera and inspiration from a book of photography called Paris by Night by Brassai, young darkroom technician Volkmar Wentzel, who lived in a tiny garret in Washington, D.C., walked into the gas-lit grandeur of the nighttime city and launched his remarkable career with these stunning images of the Capital in the '30s. 40 tritone photographs, many never before published.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing (February 11, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555914101
• ISBN-13: 978-1555914103
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 9.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,145,062 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A stunning look at Washington, DC from a glorious era., October 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Washington by Night: Vintage Photographs from the 30's (Hardcover)

Volkmar Wentzel's Washington by Night captures the stark beauty of the Nation's Capital, and the grandure of a bygone era, that almost defies description.

Filled with pictures taken before the World War II build-up, Wentzel's Washington is a still a sleepy southern town, about to awake to the international stage. Captured in this naive state Washington becomes a foreign city ripe for exploration and the unexpected.

The lush tri-tone images compel close study and readers cannot help but find something new everytime they pick up the book.

Volkmar Wentzel's view of Washington is an insight into the simple and monumental.

5.0 out of 5 stars beautiful quality, July 31, 2011

By 

emily0911 - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Washington By Night: Vintage Photographs from the 30s (Paperback)

I bought this for myself after a several years-long obsession with Wentzel's photography. I bought two copies -- 1 for the coffeetable and 1 to use for framing. As a DC native, I love his pictures of my hometown...they have an indescribable simultaneous depth and loneliness to them. I've found it hard to find prints of his work online so I bought an extra copy of the book, cut out the photos (which are printed on high quality paper) and framed them to decorate my apartment. This would make a great gift for anyone from DC or anyone who had lived there. There's a certain magic to the city that you can really only capture at night. Wentzel has left a tremendous gift in this collection.