Tarnished Silver: After the Photo Boom: Essays on Photography and Related Matters 1979-1989

"In this case you can judge a book by its cover. The intriguing shot of George Eastman in bowler hat, with gloves in hand, penciled annotation across his head, suggests the startling curiosities, breadth of information, and jewel-like insights in Tarnished Silver. . . . In a word, Coleman's knowledge of photography past and present -- theory, practice, meaning, politics, technology, and potential -- is vast. . . . These ideas and opinions culled from a whole range of publications are interesting and erudite, often provocative and prescient. Plus, he is eminently understandable." -- Mike Johnston, Photo Techniques, Nov.-Dec. 1996

"Even if you read these essays when they first appeared . . . , it is very useful to have them here as a meta-review of an important transition period in the history of photography practice and criticism. . . . Coleman's writing -- open, rather folksy, but with a vocabulary that keeps the dictionary close, and full of references to other art forms -- [is] an antidote to the turgid critiques of his contemporaries . . . Another element of Coleman's criticism that I appreciate is his readiness to draw his examples from the works of obscure as well as famous photographers. . . . I was able to track down [Pierre] Molinier's work, which was new to me, and it has added insights to my long attempts to figure out Hans Bellmer's disturbing photographs of recombinant dolls. Coleman's inclusiveness, combined with his recent extensive explorations of both new and historical European photography . . . has the intended effect of breaking down the notion of an immutable canon of photo-based art. And this, in turn, helps Coleman's readers begin their escape -- it is a long way out -- from whatever corner of taste they may have been written into, Bernard Berensen-style, by Stieglitz, Newhall and Szarkowski. . . . His essays serve as a reality check, even a null set, for those of us in museums and universities." -- Rod Slemmons, Blackflash (Canada), Fall 1996

"[A. D. Coleman] is an acute and intuitive critic of photography. . . . [H]e makes a point of not being with-it, of not being politically correct, of not swimming with the tide. . . . The texts in Tarnished Silver are . . . varied and often rooted in principle and dissent. . . . One of the overall aims of the book is a discussion of the form and function of criticism and of photographic theory. According to Coleman, theory must always derive from practice, that is, from a discussion of actual works.. . . . The critic must function both as a communicator and educator of the audience and as an unrelenting analyst of photographs and institutional relations." -- Mettye Sandbye, Katalog (Denmark), Winter 1997

"A. D. Coleman's Light Readings (1979) has long been a classic of the genre, and is now joined by two further collections: Tarnished Silver, including texts and lectures from 1979 to 1989, and Critical Focus, which covers the last few years to 1993. . . . Coleman is an intelligent, well-informed and often maliciously witty observer. . . . Not that it's possible, or even desirable, to agree with all of Coleman's opinions. . . . Never mind; it is never less than a pleasure even to disagree with the erudite Mr. Coleman." -- John Stathatos, European Photography (Germany), Fall/Winter 1996

"Well-known for his succinct essays and a knowledge of photography that spans nearly the whole history of it, Coleman writes in a casual, familiar style that engages the reader by informing yet never condescending. His essays are filled with facts, anecdotes and witticisms on Polaroid, Kodak, famous and long-dead artists, even a story on 'chocolate photography.' But, unlike intellectual diatribes that ramble on, seemingly in tongues, with recurrent lapses into other languages and esoteric terms, Coleman remains far from that style. . . . [T]he effect Coleman produces is like that of an old friendship. He is comfortable and honest with his audience, he shares reference points if not opinions with them. [H]is rapport with his audience is key to maintaining a warm, trusting correspondence. . . . Coleman's essays from a decade ago, like some Dickensian phantom, shake their head at our current state, showing us how little we have changed through the eighties, how much worse things have become. They seem to have known all along that things would deteriorate, and, glancing at their watch, know that time is running out." -- Elva Ramirez, Photo Metro, Volume 14, Issue 138, May l996