Product Description

Landscape, says Henri Peretz, is the photographic genre which above all others "sets in competition the simple viewer, the painter, the amateur and professional photographer." This book, which marks the 50th anniversary of the Magnum Photo Agency, collects images by some of the most imaginative photographers of the century. Many have the eye of great painters: Henri Cartier-Bresson's study of picnickers on the bank of the River Marne is like a Renoir brought to life, while Bruno Barbey's exquisite color image of soldiers descending the hills of Kurdistan has the quality of an Albert Bierstadt canvas. There are some wonderfully surreal visions here too, such as Bruce Davidson's shot of the Statue of Liberty with a New Jersey junkyard in the foreground, and Richard Kalvar's image of a naked man on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #572901 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 184 pages

From Amazon.com
Landscape, says Henri Peretz, is the photographic genre which above all others "sets in competition the simple viewer, the painter, the amateur and professional photographer." This book, which marks the 50th anniversary of the Magnum Photo Agency, collects images by some of the most imaginative photographers of the century. Many have the eye of great painters: Henri Cartier-Bresson's study of picnickers on the bank of the River Marne is like a Renoir brought to life, while Bruno Barbey's exquisite color image of soldiers descending the hills of Kurdistan has the quality of an Albert Bierstadt canvas. There are some wonderfully surreal visions here too, such as Bruce Davidson's shot of the Statue of Liberty with a New Jersey junkyard in the foreground, and Richard Kalvar's image of a naked man on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Review
'A collection of cracking landscapes from members of the world renowned picture agency.' (Practical Photography) 'An inspiring and diverse collection' (Amateur Photographer) 'One of the most successful photography books of this year' (Wallpaper*)

Customer Reviews

Not your average landscape photography book
You wouldn't think Magnum, a photo agency best known for its outstanding photojournalism, could produce a compelling collection of landscape photographs. But going through the book, it made perfect sense. These photographs aren't the sublime visions of the natural world one associates with the art of landscape, whether in photography (e.g., A. Adams, the Westons) or painting (e.g., all of the Hudson River School artists), but are reports of the state of the world expressed through our landscape. It works much in the same way as Magnum Degrees (the more conventional Magnum collection, which sets forth a gripping vision of the state of the world at the end of the millenium), but instead of events and people, the environment is the primary mode of expression in Magnum Landscape. (There are some overlapping photos between the two books, in fact.) This isn't to say the photos aren't beautiful and artfully composed, because most of them are, in their own way. My admiration for Magnum photographers grows each time I discover one of their books. My admiration for the reproduction quality of Magnum Landscape, however, is nonexistent. The printing, frankly, blows (judging from a comparison of photos that are reproduced in both Landscape and Degrees). The book is probably still worth getting, because it's the only way you can get this fine selection of photographs.

Lessons in seeing
Look at a famous Ansel Adams print and you see (generalising grossly) a technically immaculate, beautiful image of something that is itself obviously impressive and beautiful. Which is not to belittle the level of visual imagination and craftsmanship that went into making those photographs.

Look at some of the images in this book and you see something utterly different -- the ability to see a picture, to pull a compelling and fascinating image, out of nothing, out of scenes most people wouldn't even glance twice at. Street corners, car parks, shadows on sand.

Again a gross generalisation, and there is work from a lot of different photographers in the book, but there is a coherent editorial eye at work here and a definite Magnum "house style".

I bought this book at the same time as a book of Ansel Adams classic prints. I looked through this one first and thought "oh no, now the Ansel Adams stuff will be boring". It isn't, it's completely different, but for me the Magnum pictures are more inspiring.

Unusual provocative images of our time
This book is for the visual person. It will suit those who can not only look at an image but really see what each image illustrates. Be prepared to think, to be shocked and to be inspired. Very few of the images are truly outstanding but it will help any photographer with the most important task, defining a style.