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World of Art
The Photograph as Contemporary Art
The first accessible guide to the key artists and uses of photography in contemporary art since the mid-1980s. An ideal introduction to this popular subject in contemporary culture, this highly readable book surveys work by more than 150 Andreas Gursky, Nan Goldin, Philip-Lorca di Corcia, Richard Billingham, Jurgen Teller, Thomas Demand, Yinka Shonibare, Thomas Ruff, Jeff Wall, Wolfgang Tillmans, and many more. More than 200 examples of the most important works are illustrated. Themed chapters consider subjects such as narrative and storytelling in art photography, photographing the everyday and the insignificant, the use of photography in conceptual art, and the cool, detached, objective aesthetic prevalent in current art photography. 210 illustrations, 100 in color.
224 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2004
About the author
Charlotte Cotton
52 books22 followersCharlotte Cotton is the curator and head of the Wallis Annenberg Department of Photography at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Before joining the museum in 2007, Charlotte was curator of photographs at the Victoria and Albert Museum (1992-2004), the head of programming at The Photographers Gallery (2004-2005) in London. She moved to the US in 2005 and has been visiting professor at Yale University and visiting critic at colleges including Bard, SVA, Cranbrook, Otis, Art Institute Chicago, USC, and UC Riverside.
She is the author of Imperfect Beauty (2000), Guy Bourdin (2003), Then Things Went Quiet (2003) and The Photograph as Contemporary Art (2005). She is also the founding editor of wordswithoutpictures.org.
She is the author of Imperfect Beauty (2000), Guy Bourdin (2003), Then Things Went Quiet (2003) and The Photograph as Contemporary Art (2005). She is also the founding editor of wordswithoutpictures.org.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
July 14, 2014
Very inspiring and interesting introduction to art photography. I found it challenging and engaging and a great change from ordinary books about photography and technique. This is certainly not a book for the standard digital SLR pusher. It is a refreshing and revelatory discussion of photographic artistic expression.
Although not all the works included appealed to me (I never expected them to given the breadth of talent and styles show cased) I think this is one of the best books on photography I've read.
Well recommended to those seeking more than pretty postcards or "commercial style" photography.
Although not all the works included appealed to me (I never expected them to given the breadth of talent and styles show cased) I think this is one of the best books on photography I've read.
Well recommended to those seeking more than pretty postcards or "commercial style" photography.
September 27, 2017
Excellent overview of contemporary artists. The third edition was released in 2014, but the bulk of the book seems focused on work that was produced in the late 90s and early 2000s (i.e., Struth, Gursky, Demand, Burtynsky, et al.). So you'll want Portishead and Massive Attack playing in the background. But it's a stylish and bracing collection, intelligently organized. A good introduction to current-ish trends in photography.
August 6, 2016
I didn't like most of the photographs - soulless and horrible. Then I read the text which made some of them more interesting but it makes me wonder if they can't stand by themselves. Maybe I have been spoilt by looking at classic photographs or this isn't to my taste but it makes me realise how important beauty and softness is, especially if you don't have that interesting content. To be fair, with contemporary art it's not clear yet what is good, and much of it will fade away while I imagine the good stuff will endure over time.
I scanned the most interesting bit of text - it kind of made my jaw drop: http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff...
I scanned the most interesting bit of text - it kind of made my jaw drop: http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff...
January 30, 2017
I recently finished the third edition of this book. You can find a detailed review and overview of its content on my blog , but here is the summary:
I've been passionate about art photography for some years and am always looking for new books to self-educate myself. I liked the book, because it provided me with a framework of art photography by dividing a big amount of photographers (nearly 250) into different chapters. Each chapter showed a specific approach to photography. The book is a great reference book and starting point for finding new approaches and artists to explore.
I've been passionate about art photography for some years and am always looking for new books to self-educate myself. I liked the book, because it provided me with a framework of art photography by dividing a big amount of photographers (nearly 250) into different chapters. Each chapter showed a specific approach to photography. The book is a great reference book and starting point for finding new approaches and artists to explore.
August 1, 2024
An interesting look at the world of photography and how it has come to be accepted into the canon of art in different ways and at different times. This had clear, easy to understand essays with a good collection of colour reproductions at decent sizes to illustrate the points made.
April 1, 2023
добра книжка
гарно, що є представники з харківської школи
дратувало, що знимки і текст сильно різнилися в місці
себто, бажалося кращішої верстки(в українському виданні)
гарно, що є представники з харківської школи
дратувало, що знимки і текст сильно різнилися в місці
себто, бажалося кращішої верстки(в українському виданні)
July 3, 2023
I would’ve not find out about most of the artists and works if not for this book. The problem is, I’d rather not.
October 5, 2022
I do not recommend this book. The first chapters are okay and still quite readable and allowed me to have an overview of photographers' perspectives, while the last chapters that portrait more closely modern photography were quite disappointing in content. Moreover, the book should be restructured so that the photos are close to the descriptions and not 3 pages apart, which creates annoyment and no pleasure of read and understand the piece simultaneously.
December 15, 2013
GOOD AS A GENERAL INTRODUCTION
July 26, 2019
Good and Relevant reading about contemporary photography themes and practitioners.
June 22, 2021
This is an examination of photography employed as a contemporary art medium as things stood approaching 2009 (there’s now an updated version from Aug 2020). There has been an ongoing discussion about the validity of photography as a means of such self-expression. Hopefully, that argument has long been won. There can be no doubt many photographs are considered works of art as opposed to the ‘record’ shots the medium was previously restricted to by the art world. Of course, in the days of the instant camera and, more recently, with advances in digital cameras and software, the whole world of photography, along with writing, and to some degree, music, has become infected with the ‘I can easy do that’ attitude held by many amateurs. That’s not to say many non-professionals lack talent, but it’s undeniable that many people believe ownership of a camera makes them a photographer or even a photographic artist, in the same way possession of a computer with keyboard apparently gifts many barely literate individuals with the title of ‘writer’, the ownership of a guitar makes them a musician. It’s wonderful that people try their hand at new skills, but I’d hope they would serve some form of unofficial apprenticeship and learn the necessary skills before imposing their efforts on the public. Rant over.
The book contains the esoteric language beloved of the contemporary art world. It’s almost as if the sector wishes to exclude ordinary humans from their conversations. I accept some specialist terminology as essential, but overuse of such language can be obstructive to many readers.
The photographic content ranges from the frankly banal through to the beautiful and inspiring. There are 248 pages of text and, I guess, well over that number of photographs, some of which are rather too small to be of value. Most, however, illustrate the various points made by the author.
The book is divided into eight chapters as follows: If This Is Art, Once Upon a Time, Deadpan, Something and Nothing, Intimate Life, Moments in History, Revived and Remade, and Physical and Material. Each section deals with the type of pictures that can be placed under such headings. Over 200 photographers are displayed here, most of whom I’d never heard of. Many of them also work in art with other media as well, using photography as only one means of self-expression.
Talking with a young woman who’d recently finished a degree course in photography and been required to read this book as part of that course, I asked for her opinion and received the dismissive reply ‘It’s bollocks!’, which I can understand. However, I did find the book instructive in various ways regarding the motivation for certain photographers, and the influences and ambitions that lay behind some of the photographs contained in the book. It is what it says on the cover; a comprehensive review of the photograph as contemporary art, and I’m glad I’ve read it and been introduced to a wide group of photographic artists I might otherwise never have encountered.
For those interested, I’ve added a comprehensive list of the featured artists on my personal post of this review, as there are too many to include in a normal review.
The book contains the esoteric language beloved of the contemporary art world. It’s almost as if the sector wishes to exclude ordinary humans from their conversations. I accept some specialist terminology as essential, but overuse of such language can be obstructive to many readers.
The photographic content ranges from the frankly banal through to the beautiful and inspiring. There are 248 pages of text and, I guess, well over that number of photographs, some of which are rather too small to be of value. Most, however, illustrate the various points made by the author.
The book is divided into eight chapters as follows: If This Is Art, Once Upon a Time, Deadpan, Something and Nothing, Intimate Life, Moments in History, Revived and Remade, and Physical and Material. Each section deals with the type of pictures that can be placed under such headings. Over 200 photographers are displayed here, most of whom I’d never heard of. Many of them also work in art with other media as well, using photography as only one means of self-expression.
Talking with a young woman who’d recently finished a degree course in photography and been required to read this book as part of that course, I asked for her opinion and received the dismissive reply ‘It’s bollocks!’, which I can understand. However, I did find the book instructive in various ways regarding the motivation for certain photographers, and the influences and ambitions that lay behind some of the photographs contained in the book. It is what it says on the cover; a comprehensive review of the photograph as contemporary art, and I’m glad I’ve read it and been introduced to a wide group of photographic artists I might otherwise never have encountered.
For those interested, I’ve added a comprehensive list of the featured artists on my personal post of this review, as there are too many to include in a normal review.
February 18, 2018
This modest book has the power to completely change the course of one's mind in the field of photography. Something I felt for a long time, that inner sense of pressure...what if an aesthetically appealing photograph is not enough? Is the medium of photography completely dried out? This peculiar book helped me understand the modern history of photography as a weapon and at the same time a victim of perpetual mutations in modern art. Nicely structured and reader-friendly resume of manifesto of contemporary photography and a brief introduction to current trends in photography.
February 25, 2022
Ogni capitolo affronta una specifica tematica/ambito della fotografia e, per ogni ambito, l'autrice parla di diversi fotografi citandone il progetto. Sono oltre 170 i fotografi presentati e, a mio avviso, la pecca del libro sta proprio in questo: tutti i progetti fotografici, inseriti come esempio all'interno della specifica tematica trattata, vengono affrontati molto superficialmente. L'attenzione per ogni fotografo, insomma, viene immediatamente distolta dall'attenzione per il fotografo successivo.
July 30, 2024
Libro "completista" che ovviamente lambisce la superficie ma ha due grandi pregi: affrontare di petto l'esplorazione della una fotografia "d'arte" (che pure non è definita, come del resto nessuno sembra riuscire a fare); uscirne con un buon bagaglio di conoscenze che funge da trampolino per qualsiasi tipo di esplorazione successiva. Da leggere con Google alla mano, per cercare i lavori dei quasi 300 autori citati.
March 22, 2018
Enjoyed this. A good overview of photography at this point in time and how it has developed. You can also dip in and out rather than necessarily read sequentially which I often find helpful with book like this.
September 16, 2018
my professor assigned this book as our textbook for a photo projects class I took in my last year of my undergrad. really enjoyed reading it and having round table discussions about the themes and artists trough each chapter. fun textbook, lots of great work and inspiring.
May 10, 2021
È un libro davvero ben scritto, va subito al sodo ad ogni capitolo spiegando in modo rapido e con tantissime immagini cosa si intende per fotografia contemporanea e soprattutto quanti generi diversi esistono. In più sono venuta a conoscenza di tant* fotograf* che non conoscevo.
July 24, 2024
Worthwhile. The topical focus for each of the sections is interestingly laid out. And within each chapter, photographs are segued seamlessly from one to the next. With a couple more editorial passes, it would have been really good. As it stands, it just reads a little clumsily.
December 18, 2017
Completo e davvero ben scritto.
December 13, 2018
4-ish, 3.5
March 4, 2020
Very informative, interesting enough to introduce me to photographers and summarizes photographs too.
May 23, 2020
Дает общее представление о современной фотографии с отставанием на пару лет. Хорошая база для понимания того, что в этом искусстве происходит сейчас.
January 8, 2021
Książka świetna, tłumaczenie fatalne
June 22, 2021
This book is great.
June 7, 2022
很有啟發性又系統的當代攝影入門書。當代藝術講求idea，解構，反叛，攝影師要活地多抽離呢？真正的在場與永恆是不是永遠無法共存？
December 31, 2022
очень интересно, без ухода в детальность
хочется продолжения, такого же легкого тематического обзора на деятельность более современных фотографов
хочется продолжения, такого же легкого тематического обзора на деятельность более современных фотографов
February 3, 2023
Cotton strikes a fair balance between the needs of a specialist artworld audience and the casual reader to produce a book that both informs and entertains.
February 15, 2023
Found some dope photos here of new and familiar artists such as wolfgang tillmans and nikki lee(넘나 부러운 윤태오의 여자,,,)
October 21, 2023
Обзорная книга по проектной фотографии, можно открыть (или не открыть) новые имена.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews