Photography Speaks / 150 Photographers on Their Art

Afterimage, Jan-Feb, 2005 by Bruno Chalifour

PHOTOGRAPHY SPEAKS / 150 PHOTOGRAPHERS ON THEIR ART

EDITED BY BROOKS JOHNSON

NEW YORK: APETURE, 2004/320 PP./ $29.95 (SB)

More than just a compilation of texts by numerous important photographers about their art and craft, this book reflects the thoughtful choices and the careful selection of texts by one man, Brooks Johnson, the curator of photography for over 25 years at the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk (VA). The author was instrumental in the establishment of a department of photography at the museum in 1978. The depth of his dedication to the field of photography has been exemplified by his commitment to quality scholarly research, backed by a remarkable taste for photographs. One of the shows that he had curated at the Chrysler museum was the first one I had ever seen in this country when I first visited some sixteen years ago. It struck me by its cope, the quality of the exhibited pieces, and the refined understanding of the work that was expressed on the walls of the museum. I definitely did not expect to encounter such an interesting collection of photographs in Norfolk. The museum and its staff has made its way on my personal list of the fine small and refined gems of the American art scene (the Albright-Knox in Buffalo is another one).

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Photography Speaks / 150 Photographers On Their Art proposes a revised and expanded sequel of the first Photography Speaks published in 1989, comprising a selection of texts by 69 photographers. At the time Beaumont Newhall and John Szarkowski praised it. It was followed by a second already revised and expanded edition in 1995, Photography Speaks II. Seven more photographers had joined the ranks. Aperture then was lending its book-publishing know-how, and experience in distribution. The current publication is another joint venture of the Chrysler museum and Aperture. It benefits from Brooks Johnson's now long and deep experience as a curator and an author of many catalogues (Andre Kertesz and Still Modern After All These Years in 1982, 19th Century French Photography in 1987, Jun Shiroaka in 1988, Burk Uzzle in 1992, James Abbe in 2000 among many others). The primary source material for this compilation is very diverse: writings of course, but also interviews, TV or video documents, etc.... The underlying structure of the book is chronologic although the criteria that presided over the sequencing of the pages were not quite obvious (to me). The enigmatic presence of the Sphinx figure, both in Johnson's introduction and in Maxime Ducamp's photograph (p. 37), may be the underlying theme. Looking at the history of photography from his twenty-first century promontory, the author's work can be considered as an attempt to give us clues, and show us paths, to understand the multi-facetted surface of what we now consider as fine-art photography. Obviously drawn from the collection of the museum, and presented in a systematic and straight-forward way--each left page displays a short biography and a quote by a photographer whose work is illustrated on the right page by a photograph--the material of Photography Speaks (III) presents classics as well as interesting insights in the medium. The works of Adalbert and Eugene Cuvelier could not have been shown 15 years ago as at the time too little was known of their work. Likewise the works and texts by Antoine Claudet, the Langenheim brothers, Anna Atkins, Linnaeus Tripe, Leonard Misonne, Margaret Watkins, Marjorie Content, John Pfahl, Sal Lopes, Robert Heinecken, Eiko Hosoe, Patrick Nagatani and Andree Tracey, Robin Schwartz, Maria Martinez-Canas, will be pleasant stations in this "new history of photography". For instance no-one should miss the short but very relevant text by Cindy Sherman on page 284: it is a rare document that clearly establishes the relevance of her work. The downfall of choices derived from a collection remains that some relevant works names are still missing that would be interesting additions (to Photography Speaks IV maybe): Jean Baudrillard, John Paul Caponigro, Keith Carter, Carl Chiarenza, Raymond Depardon, Joan Fontcuberta, Luigi Ghirri, Ralph Gibson, Harry Gruyeart, Michael Kenna, Martin Parr, Josef Koudelka, Nathan Lyons, Joel Meyerowitz, Richard Misrach, Simon Norfolk, the Parke-Harrisons, Bernard Plossu, Joel Peter Witkin (to quote a few favorites).

A new generation of photographers is duly represented though by recent and undisputable additions (among the 16 new names) such as Rineke Dijkstra, Luc Delahaye, Thomas Struth, and Gabriel Orozco. All use color photography and their works can also be viewed at the Chrysler museum in Norfolk as part of the exhibition that accompanies the release of this book. Also titled Photography Speaks, it opened on September 4 and will remain on show until May 1, 2005 in the Alice and Sol B. Frank Photography Galleries celebrating their eighteenth anniversary.

For any amateur (in the etymologic sense of the term) of photography, this is a must-have.