criticism and essays

The book consists of seven essays, most of them based on 1991-2001 lectures. The first two deal with Brassaï and Kertész, who were active in the early part of the twentieth century. The next two concern the parallel between creativity in mathematics and in photography, and the importance of narrative in photography. The author concludes by musing on late photographs (or sets of photos) from three outstanding photographers: "Point Lobos" by Edward Weston (1944), the "Equivalents" series of clouds by Stieglitz (1920s - early 1930s), and "Fall in Movement" by Strand (1973). Some 10 pages of notes follow the 162 pages of text.

I found the book thought-provoking, and many of the photographs were new to me, but the book could have been improved in the following ways. First, an index would have enabled the reader to find specific passages or artworks of interest. For example, one might like to see again the paragraphs on Poincaré on pages 74-75, or the photos by Sternfeld on pages 80 and 85. Second, it would have been nice to know the dimensions of the original photographs. A work that is only a few square inches in size will have a different impact than one that covers an entire wall. Third, virtually the entire book discusses creations by white men; it would have been nice to introduce some diversity in race and gender. Finally, while the off-white matte 6"x8.5" paper is lovely for the text, it does not allow high-quality reproduction of the photographs. Pure white semi-glossy paper in a larger format would have been better.

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