Portraits and Photos Books

[This review pertains to the larger hardcover edition. An edition widely available, but as of yet unlisted on Amazon]

There are many many Man Ray collections available now and choosing the best collection is fairly difficult unless you can preview each of them. I've seen many, but this is the first collection I felt compelled to purchase for a number of reasons.

First, the quality of the reproductions are uniformly excellent. The book is a nice size for this sort of thing. The photographs are large and the images are detailed. Taschen always does a great job with this sort of thing.

Second, the selections present a nice spectrum of Ray's work. It begins with a generous selection of his figure studies before moving on to some fashion work, a few of his famous "Rayographs", and some portraits. If you have a particular area of interest, you may prefer a more specific collection. For instance, if you are interested in his portraits of surrealists and dadaists, there are collections of those. Similarly, if you're a fan of his figure studies, there are plenty of books that cover those images exclusively. What this Taschen edition does the best is represent all of his styles in one easily accessibly volume.

Finally, the text is engaging and informative. Trilingual essays begin each section by framing the work historically as well as aesthetically. Anytime you read a trilingual book, it's always a gamble on readability. Fortunately for all you fellow English speakers, English is the largest and most prominent on the page.

There is also a chronology thrown in for good measure. Little features such as this really set this collection apart from the others. The combination of beautiful, large reproductions, informative text, and a comprehensive collection of images make this a great choice for anyone interested in Man Ray or surrealist art in general.

Although the title suggests an assassination, it actually refers to Clarence Sinclair Bull, who was MGM's chief portrait and glamour photographer from the studio's inception in 1924 to his retirement in 1961. He began photographing Garbo with her last silent film The Kiss in 1929, and after that she wanted no one else to photograph her. Bull would take over 4,000 individual studies of Garbo, devoting 2 days in his gallery for each of her films. She would pose in the character she was playing, since she saw the stills as part of the film-making process. The stills from The Kiss are particularly striking, "suffused with an elegaic softness and allure" writes Terence Pepper in the text. Bull enclosed Garbo's face in a black shadowy background, and, in contrast to her previous demure studies where she averted her eyes, he had her look directly into the camera and communicate directly with the viewer, "preserving her inner mood". A beret photograph is so potent that the studio used it for the film poster, and it prefigures her think-of-nothing final close-up from her later Queen Christina. Bull also transposed a vignette study of Garbo's face onto a photograph of the Cairo Sphinx, to create "The Swedish Sphinx". When he timorously showed her the result, he was surprised that instead of being offended, she howled with laughter, and approved it's release. It may have become the most widely distributed of her images, but it remains camp at best. Bull would say that she had no bad side and no bad angle, which made her the easiest of all the stars to photograph. Plus he thought she enjoyed their sessions, never tiring of posing for him. The images confirm MGM's agenda of creating flawless beauty, held up before the admiring throng as "nothing less than the Hope diamond in the flesh". Garbo's skin has a statue-esque perfection, her hair lit to be look soft and pliable. She never smiles but emotion is still evident. The one study in colour is for Two Faced Woman, which is less flattering than the black and white stills. Her hair has been pulled back slightly with a hidden ribbon, exposing her large forehead, and the hardness of her later Cecil Beaton studies emerges, her mouth almost in a sneer of disdain. Perhaps she knew making the film would be a mistake and an end to her film career. We also have a study of Chris, Garbo's stand-in, who apparently was even more mysterious than the one she doubled for. After Garbo retired, perhaps it is only the studies of Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn that can match the iconoclastic grandness of Bull's work with Garbo, which proves that no matter how talented the photographer, the subject is everything. This kind of portraiture would decline with the collapse of the studios, and when you see the later studies of less arresting faces, perhaps this was for the best. Garbo flourished in a period where the ideals of beauty she radiated were desperately needed, but she always a reluctant star. When the world became indifferent, so did she.

Bought this for a relative who is interested in Mannequins. Has many good photographs of contempory ones. I would recommend this to anyone, even at this high price!

This book is beautilly edited and beautifully printed on somehow matte paper, prints are somehow very light, delicate. As these photographs are : light, delicate. For me this is the best nude photography I have ever seen. I also like very much the nude photographs made by Edward Weston. But for Weston the nude is a study of lines and forms, at least this shows in a lot of his photographs. For Alvarez Bravo women and beauty are more than that. By the way Alvarez Bravo photographed these women I have these two thoughts : Alvarez Bravo liked photography very much but he loved women a whole lot more. Very highly recommended for anyone who loves photography in a more serious way and loves women.

[It is a thiny little bit of a pity that about 8 pages in my copy are somehow wrinkled but this really is a miner problem and as this is the second copy that was sent to me (first copy never reached me) I really don't mind about it.]

Awesome book.

The photos are beautiful and the quality of prints are perfect.

This book is one of the bests I have, I realy like it. It is a inspiration for my nexts portraits.

This is one of the most unique and missed books during Marilyn Monroe's so-called, "New York" Period. A interesting period in Monroe's life that immediately followed her divorce from her then husband Joe DiMaggio, and her inception as a student in the "Lee Strasberg" "Actors' School". The reader and fan will appreciate the photos of Marilyn when she appeared for the Premiere of "Tennessee Williams'" Play, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof". There are also "behind the scene" photos of Marilyn preparing for her grand entrance into the Madison Square Garden Arena on a pink elephant, to benefit a children's charity by Mike Todd. Truly, very unique and beautiful photos of the late screen goddess, which I for one will maintain in my Monroe collection for many years to come. A very beautifully put-together collection of photographer "Ed Feingersh's" photo memories of Marilyn Monroe during the early spring of 1955. Photos which were stored-away for over 40 + years and were discovered by accident. This is a truly 'must-have" for the "Monroe Afficionado"!

This is EXACTLY what I was looking for! This book is full of fantastic marketing approaches for photographers. An added bonus is the wonderful array of photographs throughout. This book will help lead the photographer just starting out in the right direction and will give seasoned photographers fresh and creative ideas on how to promote themselves and their photography.

What an incredible book...I am not usually in the habit of buying books, but I couldn't resist when I saw the cover!! I am a huge Marlon Brando fan...an understatement to say the least. I have been hooked since I first watched "A Streetcar Named Desire." I don't think that there has been a more beautiful actor (and that even includes Paul Newman!) I have managed to get my hands on every Brando movie possible!! He had more than just a beautiful face though; there was a presence about him that was just mesmorizing! I get very upset when people speak of Brando's wasted talent, or what a sad joke his life has become..........we will always have his films and portraits to cherish! As it was stated in his biography, the world definitely "heard" from Marlon Brando!

For those of you - like me - gnashing your teeth trying to get your hands on all those out-of-print Martin Parr books, this one's a gem, and, thankfully, totally available. The 50 or so portraits of Parr, taken by studio photographers in exotic locales, are dripping with irony and loaded with critical comment on the role of the image in the early 21st. Parr achieves this impact in such a simple, straightforward manner, all you can say - through your uproarious laughter - is: this guy's a genius.

I got this book for my boyfriend for his birthday (he is a photographer). The book is full of the most beautiful and dreadful photographs. The writing is good too- the author tells of her experience trying to be accepted into this tight, dangerous, intimidating Indian community. Inspiring to photographers and artists and sociologists and anthropologists alike.