Painting and photography have enjoyed a sometimes uneasy yet often productive relationship since Daguerre and others invented ways of chemically recording light more than 150 years ago.
Many people were sure that the camera’s ability to reproduce seemingly perfect images of reality would render paint and brushes obsolete. But just the opposite occurred.
Photography reinvigorated the older medium, forcing painters to completely rethink the way in which they approached the canvas and perceived the world, setting the stage for the tremendous artistic innovations of the 20th century.
Some painters, such as Edgar Degas, began taking photographs as part of the process of painting, while others have found inspiration in the photographic imagery that now can be found everywhere.
In the latter category is the wonderfully iconoclastic English painter, Francis Bacon, who died in 1992. He was immensely influenced not just by photography but also by film and mass media of all kinds.
In a fascinating and exhaustively researched book, “In Camera: Francis Bacon” (Thames & Hudson, 256 pages, $60), Martin Harrison explores the intertwined relationships between these forms and Bacon’s challenging paintings.
Though this book focuses on Bacon and his work, it should be of interest to photography fans as well, with probably half of the book’s more than 270 illustrations devoted to photographic images by Eadweard Muybridge and others.
A lesser-known yet still important 20th century artist, Frederick Sommer, is most widely known as a photographer, giving up his pursuit of architecture to pursue photography in the 1930s to become one of the field’s most distinctive and sometimes misunderstood voices.
“Frederick Sommer: Photography, Drawing, Collage” (Yale University Press, 251 pages, $65), offers an in-depth examination of the intriguing, creative cross-
pollination between his photography and his work in collage and drawing.
If photography as artistic inspiration is one theme among this year’s photography books, another is the West. An assortment of photographers offer their disintictive takes on this vast and variegated region, including Richard Avedon.
None is more important than “In the American West” (Henry N. Abrams, 184 pages, $75) a beautiful reissue marking the 20th anniversary of Avedon’s landmark series of portraits of cowboys, gamblers, drifters and other members of the region’s often-ignored underclass.
At the behest of the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, Avedon traveled the West in 1979-1984, creating these bold, straight-on and slightly unsettling images, which were first displayed 20 years ago at the museum and again this year.
Other books offering notable Western takes include:
“The Weather and a Place to Live: Photographs of the Suburban West,” by Steven B. Smith (Duke University Press, 128 pages, $39.95). Smith’s photographs of the exotic banality of surburban subdivisions were chosen from among 300 entries for Duke’s second biennial photography prize, which includes publication of a book.
“Richard Misrach: Golden Gate” (Aperture Foundation, 132 pages, $50). This welcome reissue offers another look at the renowned photographer’s sublime photographs of the Golden Gate Bridge. They show the iconic span in an extraordinary range of weather conditions and times of the day.
Here is a look at some other noteworthy books this year:
“Chaos,” by Josef Koudelka (Phaidon Press, 112 pages, $75). Decay and detritus run through these stark, uncaptioned images by the invidualist Czech-born photographer. The long, narrow shape of the book smartly echoes their unconventional, panoramic format.
“Oxford Companion to the Photograph,” edited by Robin Lenman (Oxford University Press, 834 pages, $65). This massive book is a straightforward, accessible encyclopedia of the art form with entries on everything from the “decisive moment” to “photoblogging” and more than 300 illustrations.
“Walking Talking Lying: Laurie Simmons” (Aperture Foundation, 156 pages, $50). Beginning in the 1960s, many vanguard artists who do not think of themselves as photographers began using the medium in unconventional ways to achieve their creative ends. Among the best known is Simmons, whose work is nicely showcased here.
“Reflex: A Vik Muniz Primer” (Aperture Foundation, 204 pages, $39.95). Another artist who has approached photography in new ways is Muniz, who is best known for his images of compositions in chocolate and other unusual materials. In this imaginative book, he offers a lively primer on his work and many artistic influences.
“Model American: Katy Grannan” (Aperture Foundation, 120 pages, $40). Grannan has gained recognition for recruiting everyday people in local newspapers and then photographing them in their own homes or nearby locales. What results are frank, oddly uncomfortable portraits.
HERE ARE SOME IDEAS FOR:
That know-it-all cousin whose biceps could use a little work.
“Oxford Companion to the Photograph,” edited by Robin Lenman
Your college roommate who is packing up for a new job in the Bay Area.
“Richard Misrach: Golden Gate”
