Beauty in Photography: Essays in Defense of Traditional Values"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? Of what importance is it to society? 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 into the work of a distinguished photographer, but also an illuminating challenge and corrective to the usual pieties and pettiness of photographic circumstance of today." -- Provided by publisher |
From inside the book
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Page 52
... museum people is of guarded professionalism . - There are reasons , of course , for the loss of a sense of community among photographers . For one thing , there are too many of us , and , as we go without work , the numbers who teach ...
... museum people is of guarded professionalism . - There are reasons , of course , for the loss of a sense of community among photographers . For one thing , there are too many of us , and , as we go without work , the numbers who teach ...
Page 82
... museum masterpiece . Though again , if the substance of art remains basically the same , why can't its expression remain so too ? Part of the answer is that the simple perceptual pleasure that art offers depends to a degree on freshness ...
... museum masterpiece . Though again , if the substance of art remains basically the same , why can't its expression remain so too ? Part of the answer is that the simple perceptual pleasure that art offers depends to a degree on freshness ...
Page
... Museum ( XII ) ; International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House , Rochester , New York ( XIV , XVII ) ; The Paul Strand Foun- dation , New York , as published in Paul Strand : A Retrospective Monograph , The Years 1915-1968 ...
... Museum ( XII ) ; International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House , Rochester , New York ( XIV , XVII ) ; The Paul Strand Foun- dation , New York , as published in Paul Strand : A Retrospective Monograph , The Years 1915-1968 ...
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abstractions affirmation Alfred Stieglitz Ansel Adams Aperture argued artist asked attention BEAUTY IN PHOTOGRAPHY believe Ben Shahn better C. A. Hickman camera Capa's Cézanne color Colorado composition concern contemporary creation critics David Smith discover Dorothea Lange Edward endure essays evidence evil example experience fact finally Form Frank Gohlke geography Gohlke's graphs Hammarskjöld hope implies important landscape art Lee Friedlander live look Masaccio Matisse meaning metaphor Minor White Museum Nicholas Nixon nonetheless observed ourselves painters painting and sculpture Paul Strand perennial style perhaps photographer's photography as art Plate poet question rapher raphy record reflection reminded response reveal ROBERT ADAMS scene seems sense shape sincerity specifics struggle subject matter successful suggest T. S. Eliot things tion true truth ture understand viewers views vision Walker Percy Weston wilderness William Carlos Williams world of appear write York