A World History of Photography: 5th Edition

By Naomi Rosenblum and Namoi Rosenblum

Book Overview

Naomi Rosenblum's classic history of photography traces the evolution of this young art form chronologically and thematically. Exploring the diverse roles that photography has played in the communication of ideas, Rosenblum devotes special attention to topics such as portraiture, documentation, advertising, and photojournalism, and to the camera as a means of personal artistic expression. Her text is illustrated with nearly nine hundred images by photographers both celebrated and little known, arranged in stimulating juxtapositions that illuminate their visual power.

This fifth edition of A World History of Photography is substantively revised and updated. The photography of the past several decades is reevaluated from a contemporary perspective, and international developments are covered in greater detail. The main strands of today's complex universe of digital image-making are masterfully summarized and placed in their historical context, and the careers of representative contemporary photographers are studied in depth.

Thoughtfully written, carefully and abundantly illustrated, and provided with a full apparatus--including a chronology, glossary, and annotated bibliography--Rosenblum's volume remains the indispensable work on its subject.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0789213435
• ISBN13: 9780789213433
• Release Date: November 2019
• Publisher: Abbeville Press
• Length: 748 Pages
• Weight: 5.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 8.8" x 11.4"

Customer Reviews

Informative, readable, and tons of historical photographs

I was astounded at how much information Rosenblum was able to distill into a very readable and interesting book. And she has included so many historical photographs !!! I suspect that any person who cares about the "roots" of photography, especially the great masters of photography that preceeded us, will find this book to be very helpful, profound and even inspirational. Just don't drop this very heavy book on your foot.

All information needed in one book

A lot of information concentrated in one book, just what I needed: A lot of facts with perfect examples of photos and other illustrations. Especially I liked that there are no author's opinions, or philosophical discussions in this book, just facts.

Very Informative

This book is used as a text for a history of photography course at Idaho State University. It is an excellent book and the pictures are reproduced beautifully. When I saw the book on the shelf, I thought I would have to pay at least $100 for it. I was happily surprised to find out how inexpensive it is.

Superb! by fermed

I have owned a copy of this book for several years and it still gets used with the frequency it deserves. I confess having been quite ignorant about the history of photography: it seemed the type of record I would not be particularly interested in (old photos are too old, and new ones are in the daily paper); but my attempt to read Susan Sontag's book ON PHOTOGRAPHY demanded precisely the nearby presence of a reference such as this one, and so I came to own my copy. The book is very thorough, deeply scholarly, and broadly based. If it has to do with the record of photography as culture it is likely to be found here. I treasure it.

Outstanding

The book is an outstanding and thorough history of the photographic process, equipment, photographers and styles from Niepce's first photos through color photographs from the 1980's. A very complete survey, especially of the photographers with lots of examples.