The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Douglas Stockdale • Who has not flown over America’s Great Plains witnessing the immense circular patterns created by the farmers and wondered if these were the inspiration for the abstract artists of the Abstract Expressionism of the 1950s and the Color Field paintings of the 1960s? For me, these aerial perspectives recall the abstract... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • At first glance, Impermanence seems an unlikely title for a monograph honoring the 50-year career of a master photographer and platinum printer whose work has stood the test of time. And quite a substantial book it is, weighing in at more than seven pounds and featuring 220 quadtone images lusciously reproduced on 12... Continue Reading →
Review by Steve Harp • I discovered the work of Ragnar Axelsson in a slim volume I came across in a small photo bookstore/gallery in Reykjavik in 2014. A part of the Photo Poche Series, published by Crymogea, it was titled simply Ragnar Axelsson. I loved the book’s compact size – it suggested to me nothing so much as a sketchbook,... Continue Reading →
Review by Paul Anderson • How does one get the Tower Bridge of London to dance? Thomas Kellner has found a way, and it can be seen in his 2021 book Tango Metropolis. Kellner’s reworked image of the iconic London landmark turns the bridge into something straight out of a fairy tale, transforming the bridge’s towers into... Continue Reading →
Review by Melanie Chapman • Why would someone carry a 258-page hardcover photobook with them across an ocean and throughout four countries when much of the photographer’s work is accessible on-line? When the book is the new retrospective Vivian Maier published by Thames and Hudson, the only appropriate response is “Why Not?!” - As the “someone” who... Continue Reading →
Welcome to our 41st Issue • The summer holidays are coming to an end, with the kids back in school in most regions of the United States. In August we provided a broad selection of artist and photographic books that we hope inspired you while relaxing next to the pool or perhaps on the beach (the latter being my favorite). We are expecting a... Continue Reading →
Review by Rudy Vega • In The Flow of Light Brushes the Shadow, Douglas Stockdale has produced an artist book which sets out to visually articulate his anxiety felt as a traveler. The book is part therapy, an exercise in search of catharsis. Stockdale uses the aesthetics of the photographic medium as a vehicle to navigate the... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • Amanda Marchand’s artist book, The World Is Astonishing With You In It - A 21st Century Field Guide to the Birds, Ferns and Wildflowers, is a slender photobook, minimalist by design, nevertheless delivering a solid punch. This body of work is an emotional response to her natural subjects, similar to her earlier... Continue Reading →
Reviewed by Rudy Vega • The cover of Julie Blackmon’s Midwest Materials depicts the following: four children-all of which have their faces turned away from us, the viewers. They are caught in mid-stride–two girls skipping towards the wall of the building marked by the name of the book- Midwest Materials, while another has arms stretched skyward... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • “Beauty is where you find it,” said the great philosopher Madonna, who lived for a while on her way to stardom in the neighborhood of Corona in the borough of Queens, New York. She is among many notable one-time residents, including Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Martin Scorsese, and Archie Bunker. Corona... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal 