Monday, 30 December 2024
Sunday, 29 December 2024
Jazz age twenties to streamline thirties
The title says American style in the 1920s but creativity doesn't stop or start when the decades change and fortunately, the contents of this book morph in the 1930s. The two authors have done a wonderful survey of the arts in America, especially considering ceramics, jewelry, furniture, interior decor, housewares and a nod toward transport. As the book is a permanent reminder of an exhibition with hundreds of items on display, architecture only really gets a text mention.
I found it interesting to read about the huge influence that European art and design had on home-grown creative folk. The forty-six-page listing of the exhibits in the back of the book gives the artists' nationality, and probably more than half were born overseas.
The book is a handsome production, virtually all the photos are still-life studio shots rather collected from outside sources with varying quality. I thought this was a super survey of past American style that still looks intriguing today.
US
Tuesday, 24 December 2024
Marvin captures life 5/5
For a relatively unknown photographer, Marvin Newman (1927-2023) gets a superb monograph from Taschen. He was a very professional creative photojournalist and certainly known in the American publishing world. The book's fourteen portfolios, from Chicago in 1950 to New York's 42nd Street in 1983 reveal that Newman knew how to take images that would capture a reader's attention.
What I like about his work is the way he managed to frame the focal point of interest. The ten photos taken in 1956 of Wall Street, including one taken from the ceiling with a wide-angle shot of the trading floor, are good examples of how Newman considers each shot. The most dramatic photos in the book are Broadway, 1954-1958 and 42nd Street, 1983. Both are night-time shots with amazing saturated colors created by neon signs and movie-house what's showing display marques.
Taschen has done Newman proud with this big book (fourteen by nine and a half inches) and printed with a two hundred screen on a semi-matt art paper.
US
UK
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