Favorite Photography Books #3

Family

by Lee Friedlander

Text by Maria Friedlander

This book collects Lee Friedlander's personal photos of his family starting in the early 1950s and going through 2000. While they all have the stamp of Friedlander's style they are much more intimate and subjective than the work we are accustomed to seeing. The layout of the book is by subject and somewhat chronological and is presented as if it was anyone's family album. A very complete, tender visual narrative emerges (with the help of Maria's text). We see the children growing, his wife aging, the family getting larger and all of the sharing and love that goes with it. But like any family album the questions abound secrets are kept hidden. A beautiful book by one of America's great artists.

Favorite Photography Books 2

Wright Morris:
The Inhabitants
The Home Place
God's Country and My People

Three great books that pioneered the narrative combination of photographs and words. His photos are straightforward images of life in the midwest through depictions of architecture, barren landscapes, rural townscapes and details and objects of an American way of living in the late depression. They rarely show people, the presence of which is suggested through the depiction of timeworn buildings, tools and belongings. The books share some of the same photos and the texts are quite different in style and point-of-view. The Home Place (1946) reads like an novel and shows a clash of two generations and their values. The text and the pictures seem to integrate with the characters in a very personal way going beyond illustration. The Inhabitants (1948) pairs seemingly unrelated text with photographs and is somewhat abstract enabling the viewer to fill the gaps between the narrative and the photos - ultimately creating a complex portrait of life in the midwest post depression. God's Country and My People (1968) seems to be more of a refinement in style of the other books. Many of the same photos are used and the texts at times seem to make a more direct connection to the photos they are paired with. Ultimately these books form a detailed history of a way of life in America that is personal and maybe more complete than that presented through the Farm Security Administration photo projects.

He also published many novels and there are many other books drawn from this set of 3 books.

Wikipedia's Bio of Wright Morris and a list of his other books.





Wrighht Morris Images