Chicago Photographs

Carol Ehlers
Thomas Heagy
Vera Lutter
John Szarkowski
Harry Callahan (photographer)
Walker Evans (photos)
Ph.D. Robert Frank (photographer)
Lee Friedlander (photos)
Danny Lyon (photos)
Aaron Siskind (photographer)
Thomas Struth (photographer)

Product: book
ISBN-10: 0-9702452-3-8
ISBN-13: 9780970245236
Publisher: LaSalle Bank, N.A.
Country:
Year: June 15, 2005
Size: 27.18 x 29.21 x 1.52cm
Number of pages: 120
Weight: 1,111gr
Binding: hardback

books by topics
Arts & Photography
Artists, A-Z
A-C
Callahan, Harry
D-F
Evans, Walker
Photography
Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions
How-to
Travel

Product Description
Our journey through Chicago begins on an El train platform looking South on State Street in the Loop. From there we are guided through the streets of the Windy City. Through the eyes of 30 photographers, we see Chicago's inhabitants, ways of life, its past (as far back as 1930) and its present. Eventually we end our trip outside of the city's center, but not before we feel a genuine sense of intimacy and warmth within a place notorious for its chill. The images herein have been culled from LaSalle bank's more than 4,000 collected photos. It is divided into two sections: part one presents a sequence of powerful photographs taken in downtown Chicago, part two unfolds as an artistic testimony to the people who live in the city's historically diverse neighborhoods. Features 47 works by artists such as Walker Evans, Harry Callahan, Danny Lyon, Thomas Struth, Lee Friedlander, Robert Frank, Yasuhiro Ishimoto, Terry Evans, Hedrich Blessing Studio, Vera Lutter, and others.

Chicago is good-looking. The city knows it, just as a woman who turns heads is not unaware of the fact. –-Robert Cohen

Photographers include, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Danny Lyon, Thomas Struth, John Szarkowski, Harry Callahan, Aaron Siskind and Vera Lutter among others.

Essay by Carol Ehlers.

Foreword by Thomas C. Heagy.

Hardcover, 11.25 x 10.5 in./120 pgs / 8 color.

A Disappointment
Having only recently learned that Chicago's LaSalle Bank owns a substantial collection of photography I was eager to see this book, which presents some of this collection's images. Thumbing through a copy at a local store I must say I was very disappointed. For starters, its format offers only one image per two pages. Each facing page is empty and offers only a caption/attribution for the facing image.

To be fair, there are a few images that are historically significant and others, such as those by the late Art Sinsabaugh, that are wonderful. But on the whole the majority of images in this book are merely pedestrian, offering neither topical nor compositional distinction. As a Chicago photographer myself maybe I'm being harsh as I am very familiar with (and have photographed) many of the venues represented. But for those who really want this book I recommend waiting to pick it up on the used book market for $5-$10.

There are many really fine Chicago photo books available. One of my recent favorites is "Real Chicago" which offers a treasure trove of photos from the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper archive.

Another is "American Horizons: The Photographs of Art Sinsabaugh", published for a recent (January, 2005) exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Both of these works, plus many others, offer far better samples of documentary and fine-art Chicago imagery.

• Chicago
• Collections, Catalogs, Exhibitions
• Illinois
• Photo Techniques
• Photography
• Photography As An Art
• Photography, Artistic
• Photography – Subjects & Themes – Regional
• Subjects & Themes – Travel – General

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