Fashioning Fiction In Photography Since 1990 (Hardcover)

~ (Photographer), Eva Respini (Photographer)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Since the late 1980s, the field of fashion photography has exploded, moving away from presenting a desirable ideal to showing contemporary lifestyles. An intriguing exchange of ideas and techniques between commercial photography and art photography and, more specifically, between fashion and art photography has completely changed the idea of what a fashion photograph is and what it should look like. The focus is on defining a milieu rather than just clothing. ~Fashioning Fiction in Photography Since 1990 presents a selection of high-profile fashion photographs influenced by two aesthetic strategies: cinema and the amateur photograph. The cinematic image, through its attention to drama and its reverence for tension and voyeurism, seduces a young audience whose primary visual points of reference are film and television. The amateur photograph, including the family album picture, provides seemingly offhand documentation of the activities of friends and associates in the lives of photographers, blurring the line between pictures made for hire and those made as personal keepsakes. This groundbreaking book, and the exhibition it accompanies, includes lavish illustrations of the work by photographers such as Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Cedric Buchet, Glen Luchford, Tina Barney, Jüergen Teller, Nan Goldin, and Larry Sultan, among others. The principal essay, by Susan Kismaric, Curator, and Eva Respini, Assistant Curator, in the Department of Photography at The Museum of Modern Art, explores the nature of fashion photography in the last decade, and the work of the photographers presented in this volume. A second essay, by Dennis Freedman, Vice Chairman and Creative Director of W magazine, discusses the subject from within the fashion industry and provides an intimate view of the creation of the promotional campaigns and the imagery of fashion.

Fashion photography by Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Cedric Buchet, Glen Luchford, Tina Barney, Jüergen Teller, Nan Goldin, Larry Sultan, and more.

Essay and Interview with Dennis Freedman by Susan Kismaric and Dennis Freedman.

Hardcover, 9 x 12 in./144 pgs / 110 color and 11 duotones.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: The Museum of Modern Art, New York; 1ST edition (April 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870700405
• ISBN-13: 978-0870700408
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 9.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #815,003 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this book is great., August 2, 2004

By	C. Elgin "akitonmyers" (Palo Alto CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

What a great book. I was a little hesitant over how I would receive and enjoy this book at first, but after having leafed through its pages several times now I realize that this is exactly what is cool about narrative art today. This book does not contain the fine artists Crewdson, Garfield, Wall, or the young Yale ladies, instead it surveys in many ways the influence these artists, and the movements they are following, are having on fashion photography. And vice versa. What I have to say is that many of the photographers I did not know of before opening this book are just as good as anyone out their.
Philip Lorca diCorcia and Nan Goldin are well known artists in their own right and you will see them in this book. DiCorcia's work is interesting in that this is not what I would expect to see in a gallery judging from his earlier work. But it is pretty interesting and a new avenue for the guy. The better showings by artists here are those I had never heard of. There is some twisted stuff here. Not violent, but subversive 1950's post modern irony.
Hey, this is a great book. You will find yourself pulled back again and again. And the best thing is that it is easy to enjoy. Much more so than many other recent surveys that tackle the fine arts.

4.0 out of 5 stars Fashioning Fiction in Photography since 1990, December 11, 2008

By	E. Smith - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Fashioning Fiction in Photography since 1990 is a collection of photographs curated by Susan Kismaric and Eva Respini, presenting photographers using narrative structures as a technique for fashion photography. This book showcases fine artists whose work has also been featured commercially, such as Philip Lorca DiCorcia and Tina Barney. Kismaric and Respini also provide the reader with a thorough introduction to the history of fashion photography and the context through which it has become such a prevalent art form today. The introductory essay also describes how the narrative world of cinema and the snapshot have influenced fashion photography over the last 20 years, giving artists an opportunity to change cultural attitudes. Kismaric and Respini also define the forces that have influenced the evolution of fashion photography. No longer is the fashion photographer's job simply to showcase the clothing through idealized members of an upper social class. Due to social change brought about by war, advances in technology, and the challenges of anti-establishment thinking, the world of fashion photography has become an important segment of mass culture. The group of photographers Kismaric and Respini chose to feature provides an overview of artists' work that is making an impact in the world of fashion photography but who also may not be art-world household names, such as Crewdson and Wall.