Any book that attempts to present a collection of work from the finest photographers of the last 100 years deserves attention and Twentieth Century Photography is such a work.
It is a superb introduction to some of the top photographers of the century, a greatest hits of the medium in which all genres, from fine art photography to fashion to photojournalism, feature.
The book looks at the work of 55 photographers, and because it it done alphabetically it makes for a wonderful journey back and forward across decades and styles. Each photographer's images are accompanied by a biographical note, a brief essay and a very useful recommendation of the photographer's key publication.
Readers with little interest in photography will recognise some of the better known images, Bert Hardy's `Gorbals Boys' and Robert Capa's `Death of a loyalist soldier' being two examples. Readers with an interest in photography are treated to less familiar work from many of the household names.
The work by the 12 photographers of the Magnum Agency, along with that of former member Sabastiao Salgado, represents the best photojournalism. Nick Knight's contemporary and futuristic fashion images are stunning, as are Cecil Beaton's 1953 portrait of Queen Elizabeth; Yousuf Karsh's Winston Churchill (1941); and a 1988 portrait of Florence Griffith Joyner (Flo Jo) by Allsport's Tony Duffy.
Obvious absentees apart (for me, Diane Arbus, Annie Liebowitz, Robert Frank, Richard Avedon, David Bailey and Don McCullin), the book works on different levels. It functions as a visual shorthand for the past 100 years while providing an insight into the lives of those behind the viewfinder. But most importantly it presents page after page of wonderful photography.
Twentieth Century Photography by Reuel Golden. Carlton. £25 in UK
