Family

Photographers photograph their families


An intimate collection of family photographs by over 50 photographers.


Edited by Sophie Spencer-Wood, with a preface by Henri Peretz and notes of the photographs by Margaret Walters


Editions:

Price: USD$39.95

400 points
 


Specifications

Overview
  • A poetic exploration of the universal theme of family, relevant to all
  • A collection of intimate, often unseen, pictures by over 50 photographers of their own brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents, children and partners
  • An inspired symphonic sequence of images from the 19th century to the present day
  • Includes work by photographers associated with the genre, such as Harry Callahan, Sally Mann, Raymond Depardon, Nicholas Nixon and Elinor Carucci, as well as rarely seen works by well-known names, such as Edward Weston, Dorothea Lange, David Bailey and Robert Adams
  • Features an introductory essay on the state of family by French sociologist Henri Peretz
  • Detailed commentaries on the photographs are included along with an editor's note, setting the pictures in context



In The Press
'Family acknowledges the impulse in these photographers as in everyone else: to take photographs that capture those we love, that preserve them in memory; and here there is no difference between an amateur and a professional photographer.' (Daily Telegraph)

'Family is packed with interesting examples ... of work that combines professional distance with the intimate tenderness of the everyday.' (Independent)

'In these pages photography is an instrument not just of observation and commentary but of emotional truth. These images tell us, certainly, about their subject and something of the person behind the lens, but they tell us, too, about ourselves: how we feel about our parents, how we as parents feel about our children, what we think of the rooms we live in, the people we share them with, the ways we occupy ourselves, the places from which we came. They tell us what it is like to love, to be shaped by our families and to shape them. They tell us what is like to be alive.' (Sunday Telegraph)

'Packed with interesting examples ... of work that combines professional distance with the intimate tenderness of the everyday.' (The Independent)

'… What if you're a professional photographer, what if every time you lifted a camera you carefully considered light, context, the clever angle made by a child's toy? Would your family snaps then have the same pathos as mine? This lovely book answers that with a resounding yes.' (Antiques Magazine)

'Revealing' (Dazed & Confused)


About the author(s)

Henri Peretz is a sociologist and writer and is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Paris VIII. He is the author of Les méthodes en sociologie: L'observation (1998), contributing writer to The Table of Power by photographer Jacqueline Hassink (1996) and to the exhibition and book Magnum Landscape, published by Phaidon.

Sophie Spencer-Wood is a picture editor and researcher. She has worked with, among others, Colin Jacobson on Reportage magazine, among others, and as assistant to Bruce Bernard on Phaidon's award-winning book, Century. Her other books include Gandhi and Freedom: An African American Struggle, also published by Phaidon.

Margaret Walters is a critic, writer and broadcaster. She has written extensively on the visual arts and culture, and has broadcast frequently on the BBC. Her book The Male Nude: A New Perspective was published to much critical acclaim. She currently reviews novels for The Sunday Times.



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