The Face in the Lens
Anonymous Photographs
1st Edition
Published on 1. May 2009
Book
Hardback
208 pages
978-0-520-25983-6 (ISBN)
Description
Anonymous photography has a magic all its own. The intriguing images assembled here by collector and curator Robert Flynn Johnson are all mysterious, but their appeal is various. By turns poignant, humorous, erotic, and disturbing, their subject is the human condition. In ten stunning chapters every aspect of human experience - both public and private - is explored. Richly reproduced and with subtle tonalities marking their age, over 220 photographs showcase the work of photographers whose identities have been lost in time. The images are never anything less than mesmerizing and include previously unseen portraits of such stars as Cary Grant, Richard Burton, and Marlene Dietrich. Introduced by Alexander McCall Smith, this follow-up to Johnson's widely acclaimed "Anonymous" touches on birth, marriage, death, disease, hope, glory, and despair and a plethora of additional emotions, events, and human states, and will capture the imagination of any reader.
Reviews / Votes
"This mounting of photographs taken by now-unknown hands is different, and if you can keep from smiling broadly at several of them, you should loosen up."--Booklist "(Explores) unintentional beauty, one that owes its existence to the nature of the camera itself."--Art & Antiques "Almost without exception (the pictures) are arresting accidents of artistic expression, alive with personality."--San Francisco Magazine "A very eclectic collection of beautiful but strangely intriguing photographs."--Roanoke Times "Almost without exception (the pictures) are arresting accidents of artistic expression, alive with personality."--San Francisco Magazine "Almost without exception (the pictures) are arresting accidents of artistic expression, alive with personality."--San Francisco Magazine "A very eclectic collection of beautiful but strangely intriguing photographs."--Roanoke Times "A very eclectic collection of beautiful but strangely intriguing photographs."--Roanoke TimesMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Berkerley
United States
Dimensions
Height: 260 mm
Width: 260 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
1389 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-520-25983-6 (9780520259836)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Robert Flynn Johnson is Curator Emeritus of the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. He is the author of many books, including Anonymous: Enigmatic Images from Unknown Photographers. Alexander McCall Smith is the author of over sixty books, including the award-winning No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.