nyc: hot shots at jen bekman, jeff wall at momaPhotogeeks the world ’round were riveted by the big story in this Sunday’s New York Times on Robert Capa’s recovered “Mexican Suitecase” archive. Might the lost negative of “The Falling Soldier” finally be found? Could it reveal this iconic image as staged? Or, perhaps we’ll learn that this most famous example of Capa’s photojournalism was taken not by Capa but by his partner Gerda Taro.
But that wasn’t the only shocking photo-related revelation in this weekend’s papers! This just in … someone out there still counts “The Family of Man” among their favorite photobooks!
Jennifer Beals (former “Flashdance” star and currently casted as an art department head on Showtime’s “The L Word”) listed five photobooks she admires for the Wall Street Journal’s fluffy “Weekend Journal” section. First on the list was the exhibition catalog for the 1955 Steichen curated MoMA show. I was surprised; I’ve seen so many abandoned copies of this book that I was beginning to think no one actually possessed one, that were they were all either in libraries or on Salvation Army shelves. Full of dated, “othering” photographs of the world’s many cultures, it’s an awkward historical document and kind of a surprise to see at the top of anyone’s favorite list.
The rest of the list is also … interesting. I’ll give her points for for choosing Szarkowski’s “Looking at Photographs,” but c’mon. Szarkowski’s effort is a key document and a great teaching text, but seems out of place in a “favorites” list. There are scads of beautifully printed and designed volumes out there filled with amazing photography; no need to lean on these popular syllabus fillers. Beals sites a few monographs in the rest of her list; check it out and weigh in with your own list. I realize the consequences of unsolicited critique; thus I’ll be working on mine.
Considering that I am not remotely a member of the photography cognoscenti, I was surprised at how quickly I came up with a list. Probably not a very hip list, but mine. I’ll spare you ill-informed critiques and just give you my first encounters with them and initial responses.
1. Los Alamos – William Eggleston (Stumbled on these in the Albertina Museum in Vienna in 2005. Hung my head at the realization that I still had a lot to learn about America.)
2. Many Are Called – Walker Evans (My high school photo teacher showed these to us along with all the other de rigueur American stuff. Turned the page in discomfort.)
3. Niagara – Alec Soth (Luke hovered over me as I flipped through every page of his copy. Sat in silent heartbreak)
4. The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult – Clement Cheroux et al. [exhibition catalogue] (This was an exhibit at the Met in 2006. Laughed in delight at how weird people can be when they apply themselves.)
5. The Photographs – National Geographic Society (Read current issues on my grandmother’s couch all through my childhood. Gazed in wide-eyed wonder at how munificent the world is.)