Beauty in Photography: Essays in Defense of Traditional Values
- Book Review,
by Robert Adams
Review
"For Adams, art is not some timid diversion or self indulgent entertainment, but goes to the heart of who we are as civilized, compassionate human beings."--Jacob Stockinger, The Capital Times, Madison, Wisconsin
"Eight eloquent and thought-provoking essays."--Chris Keledjian, Artweek
"The sort of collection of essays to which one can return repeatedly."--Michael Edelson, Camera 35
Review
"For Adams, art is not some timid diversion or self indulgent entertainment, but goes to the heart of who we are as civilized, compassionate human beings."--Jacob Stockinger, The Capital Times, Madison, Wisconsin
"Eight eloquent and thought-provoking essays."--Chris Keledjian, Artweek
"The sort of collection of essays to which one can return repeatedly."--Michael Edelson, Camera 35
Review
"For Adams, art is not some timid diversion or self indulgent entertainment, but goes to the heart of who we are as civilized, compassionate human beings."--Jacob Stockinger, The Capital Times, Madison, Wisconsin
"Eight eloquent and thought-provoking essays."--Chris Keledjian, Artweek
"The sort of collection of essays to which one can return repeatedly."--Michael Edelson, Camera 35
Book Description
These essays address us in the quiet voice of a working photographer, an artist and craftsman who has thought long and seriously about his endeavor, who has tested and questioned his own assumptions in the light of actual practice. The result is a rare book of criticism, one that is alive to the pleasure and mysteries of true exploration. Written over a ten-year period, and originally published in 1981, this timeless collection of writings now includes a new preface by the author.
Robert Adams possesses the wit to avoid cant, dogma, and platitudes of the scholar that can deaden our responses to the lively business of art. His eight essays pose a host of questions about photography's place in the arts-- and in our lives: How is photography art? By what standards are we to judge the success or failure of a photograph? His reflections are delicate, unusually calm, but they also carry the force of sure conviction, the passion of absolute dedication.
Few visual artists are capable of articulating the subtle, potent wellsprings of their own creative achievement. Adams does so with extraordinary grace and power. This book offers not only an insight to the work of a distinguished photographer, but also an illuminating challenge and corrective to the usual pieties and pettiness of photography criticism today.
About the Author
Robert Adams worked for eight years as a college English teacher before becoming a photographer. His pictures, most of which record the development of the American West, have been widely collected, exhibited, and reproduced. Adams has been awarded the Spectrum International Prize for Photography as well as fellowships from the Guggenheim and MacArthur Foundations.
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