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Thread: Help please? - interesting Biographies of Photographers

  1. #1

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    Help please? - interesting Biographies of Photographers

    yes, any help would be more than gratefully appreciated, please?

    I have plenty of decent quality photographic books from the likes of Brett, Michael Smith, Pirkle Jones, Paul Strand, Morley Baer and Saint Ansel etc

    what I'm really interested in is more of the 'nitty gritty biography stuff' - the kind of writing about photographers on what 'made them tick etc etc', their lives, passions, interests etc - Lee Miller's biography is an example, where there was a whole range of stuff from relationships, travel, bohemian living, food, alcohol etc etc and the odd spot of photography per se, so that sort of stuff

    fwiw, I have 'essays on Paul Strand's life' - that's not what I'm after and I've read Edward's 'day books' and Saint A's stuff too

    it's those with 'a bohemian slant' that I'm particularly after

    thanks for looking (and possibly also assisting)

    andrew

  2. #2

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    Re: Help please? - interesting Biographies of Photographers

    I haven't seen much of what your asking for.
    Brassi's letters to his parents is interesting.
    The biography of Tina Modoti gives some different and interesting insights into Weston. (For example, I did not realize from the Daybooks that she had "cut him off.")
    Wilhelm (Sarasota)

  3. #3

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    Re: Help please? - interesting Biographies of Photographers

    Hi Wilhelm/Bill

    that's great, many thanks - it's a very decent start

    regards

    andrew

  4. #4

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    Re: Help please? - interesting Biographies of Photographers

    I don't know what you mean by the "nitty-gritty" or a "bohemian slant." But Diane Arbus was bisexual and you can find some information about that aspect of her life in "Diane Arbus - A Biography" by Patricia Bosworth. Ditto for Ruth Bernhhard and her auto-biography "Between Life And Art." There were various rumors about Ansel Adams' possible affairs or hoped-for affairs and there's a little of that in Mary Street Alinder's biography of him. And of course there's always Robert Mapplethorpe and his biography titled "Mapplethorpe" by Patricia Morrisroe. These are all pretty serious and good books (though there was a lot of controversy about some of the stuff in Alinder's) and the "nitty gritty" or "bohemian" aspects are only a minor part of them so if it's an expose' you're after they probably don't qualify.

    I own quite a few other biographies and auto-biographies of photographers but since most serious biographies contain "nitty gritty" information - that's kind of the idea of a biography - I don't know how to distinguish those that contain "nitty gritty" (or "bohemian") information from any others.
    Brian Ellis
    Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
    a mile away and you'll have their shoes.

  5. #5

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    Re: Help please? - interesting Biographies of Photographers

    There are several good biographies of Walker Evans; a full one by Belinda Rathbone(?)
    as well as "The Last Years of Walker Evans" by Jerry Thompson, and a recent memoir by his second wife. These all sound like what you're looking for.

  6. #6

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    Re: Help please? - interesting Biographies of Photographers

    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Ellis View Post
    I don't know what you mean by the "nitty-gritty" or a "bohemian slant." But Diane Arbus was bisexual and you can find some information about that aspect of her life in "Diane Arbus - A Biography" by Patricia Bosworth. Ditto for Ruth Bernhhard and her auto-biography "Between Life And Art." There were various rumors about Ansel Adams' possible affairs or hoped-for affairs and there's a little of that in Mary Street Alinder's biography of him. And of course there's always Robert Mapplethorpe and his biography titled "Mapplethorpe" by Patricia Morrisroe. These are all pretty serious and good books (though there was a lot of controversy about some of the stuff in Alinder's) and the "nitty gritty" or "bohemian" aspects are only a minor part of them so if it's an expose' you're after they probably don't qualify.

    I own quite a few other biographies and auto-biographies of photographers but since most serious biographies contain "nitty gritty" information - that's kind of the idea of a biography - I don't know how to distinguish those that contain "nitty gritty" (or "bohemian") information from any others.

    Hi Brian

    I'm very grateful for this and for the content, thanks indeed

    regards

    andrew

  7. #7

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    Re: Help please? - interesting Biographies of Photographers

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Sampson View Post
    There are several good biographies of Walker Evans; a full one by Belinda Rathbone(?)
    as well as "The Last Years of Walker Evans" by Jerry Thompson, and a recent memoir by his second wife. These all sound like what you're looking for.

    Hi Mark

    thanks for this and for the time taken

    regards

    andrew

  8. #8

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    Re: Help please? - interesting Biographies of Photographers

    O'Keeffe and Stieglitz: An American Romance is an interesting view of the machinations of art and manipulation by these two.
    Portrait in Light and Shadow: The Life of Yousuf Karsh is the best on him I have seen.

  9. #9

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    Re: Help please? - interesting Biographies of Photographers

    Quote Originally Posted by cowanw View Post
    O'Keeffe and Stieglitz: An American Romance is an interesting view of the machinations of art and manipulation by these two.
    Portrait in Light and Shadow: The Life of Yousuf Karsh is the best on him I have seen.
    Hi Bill

    thank you too for your input

    regards

    andrew

  10. #10

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    Re: Help please? - interesting Biographies of Photographers

    ManRay, American Artist
    Margaret Bourke-White

    ManRay would be more "Bohemian" and likely more candid.

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