The Chinese Photobook

In the last decade there has been a major reappraisal of the role and status of the photobook within the history of photography. Newly revised histories of photography as recorded via the photobook have added enormously to our understanding of the medium's culture, particularly in places that are often marginalized, such as Latin America and Africa. However, until now, only a handful of Chinese books have made it onto historians' short lists. Yet China has a fascinating history of photobook publishing, and "The Chinese Photobook" will reveal for the first time the richness and diversity of this heritage. This volume is based on a collection compiled by Martin Parr and Beijing- and London-based Dutch photographer team WassinkLundgren. And while the collection was inspired initially by Parr's interest in propaganda books and in finding key works of socialist realist photography from the early days of the Communist Party and the Cultural Revolution era, the selection of books includes key volumes published as early as 1900, as well as contemporary volumes by emerging Chinese photographers. Each featured photobook offers a new perspective on the complicated history of China from the twentieth century onward. "The Chinese Photobook" embodies an unprecedented amount of research and scholarship in this area, and includes accompanying texts and individual title descriptions by Gu Zheng, Raymond Lum, Ruben Lundgren, Stephanie H. Tung and Gerry Badger.

"The Chinese Photobook : From the 1900s to the Present offers an introduction to the richness and diversity of photobooks published about China, including key titles by established and emerging contemporary Chinese photographers published in recent years; books created by early colonial powers in China, including France, Germany, and Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War; and a selection of books produced during the first years of New China and the Cultural Revolution, among many others. Over the last decade there has been a major reappraisal of the role and status of the photobook within the history of photography. These revisionist histories have added enormously to our reading and understanding of the culture of photography, particularly in places that are often marginalized, such as Latin America and South Africa. However, until now, only a few Chinese photobooks have made it onto historians' short lists. Yet China has a fascinating history of publishing photography--including publications produced by the Chinese state as well as those that offer an external perspective, by some of the world's greatest photographers. Here, over 250 volumes, drawn primarily from Martin Parr's peer-less collection of photobooks, are contextualized by and international team of scholars and historians: Gu Zheng, Raymond Lum, Ruben Lundgren, Stephanie H. Tung, and Gerry Badger. Their painstaking research into each of the featured books unveils a complex, multifaceted perspective of China, revealing much about the country and the dramatic twists and turns of its history over the last century." -- Book jacket.

"Starting in the late nineteenth century, China has been the subject of multiple bodies of photographic endeavor, but it was never before so clear how many, nor quite how significant a role Chinese photographers played in shaping the image of their own sociopolitical and cultural environment. The Chinese Photobook provides an essential overview of the image of Chine through a century and more, via a compendium of visions domestic and external, intuitive, creative, and ideological. As someone who has photographed China for several decades, I believe this collection makes a great contribution to the discussion about doing just that -"photographing China."

"In this book, Edward Burtynsky presents photographs of the remnant and newly established zones of Chinese industrialization - those places created while realizing the "glory" of wealth for a powerful civilization yearning to move forward and join the ranks of modern nations. Using diplomatic channels, Burtynsky has gained rare access to these sites, creating images that are at once arresting and unsettling. These photographs afford us privileged glimpses of the vast social and economic transformation currently underway in China." "Burtynsky casts a watchful eye over the extreme expressions of Chinese industry. His subjects include the Three Gorges Dam, at present the world's largest engineering project and Bao Steel, China's biggest steel producer. He explores the vanishing dinosaurs of old industrial complexes in the north eastern "rust belt" and shipyards at Qiligang, the single most concentrated area of shipbuilding in the country."--BOOK JACKET.

Understanding Photobooks is a user-friendly guide to engaging with the photographic book— or, as it is widely known, the photobook. Despite its importance as a central medium in which many photographers showcase their work today, there is surprisingly little information on the mechanics of the photobook: what exactly it does and how it does it. Written for makers and artists, this book will help you develop a better understanding of the images, concept, sequence, design, and production of the photobook. With an awareness of the connections between these elements, you’ll be able to evaluate photobooks more clearly and easily, ultimately allowing for a deeper and more rewarding experience of the work.

The Dutch photobook is internationally celebrated for its particularly close collaboration between photographer, printer and designer. The current photobook publishing boom in the Netherlands stems from a tradition of excellence that precedes World War II, but the postwar years inaugurated a period of particularly close collaboration between photographers and designers, producing such unique photography books as Ed van der Elsken's "Love on the Left Bank" (1956) and Koen Wessing's "Chili, September 1973" (1973). Innovations such as the photo novel and the company photobook blossomed in the 1950s and 60s; later, other genres emerged to characterize the publishing landscape in Holland, including conceptual and documentary photobooks, books on youth culture, urbanism photobooks and landscape photobooks and travelogues. Examining each of these genres across six themed chapters, "The Dutch Photobook" features selections from more than 100 historical, contemporary and self-published photobook projects. It includes landmark publications such as "Hollandse taferelen" by Hans Aarsman (1989), "The Table of Power" by Jacqueline Hassink (1996), "Why Mister Why" by Geert van Kesteren (2006) and "Empty Bottles" by Wassink Lundgren (2007). Dutch photo historians Frits Gierstberg and Rik Suermondt contribute several essays on the history of the genre, the collaborative efforts between photographers and designers and their inspiration and influences, complementing the high-quality reproductions of photobooks throughout. Award-winning designer Joost Grootens contributes unique charts and diagrams that consolidate all of these elements, in a visually unique map of the Dutch photobook.

Wars in Afghanistan, Syria and other countries have generated a massive stream of refugees toward Europe. Between spring 2015 and autumn 2020, Jacob Ehrbahn documented the lives of the refugees and migrants who dream of a better life in Europe. We meet people who have fled from war, political suppression, and poverty. We meet them far out in the Mediterranean in Libyan waters, and at various locations around Europe. A Dream of Europe reminds us that on the other end of policy decisions and behind the numbers and statistics, there are real people with hopes and dreams.