Photo Icons II (1928-1991)

Great photographic images and the stories behind them. The Taschen Icon books are great deals, low cost but high quality books with excellent photography.

A super little paperback explaining nineteen fascinating photos. Some are so famous that millions must have seen them, like `Spanish Loyalist' by Robert Capa or perhaps not so famous, yet, like Joel-Witkins `Un Santo Oscuro'. Author Koetzle tells an interesting story about each one and he's done his research too, for instance mentioning the controversial removal of a thumb by Dorothea Lange from her `Migrant Mother' photo. The nineteen photos are shown as spreads or whole page and other photos from the same shoot are also included. As they were all seen in a printed form the author has added a nice touch, a small reproduction of the original book or magazine that they appeared in. When I saw the reproductions I was reminded of Andrew Roth's Book of 101 Books, The: Seminal Photographic Books of the Twentieth Century a book entirely composed of covers and spreads from great photobooks. If you want to know the background to some great photos it's worth getting this beautifully designed and printed book and at a bargain price too. The first volume covers twenty greats from the early years of photography. ***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.