Women Photographers

Assembled from public and private collections the world over, the extraordinary images presented in this volume reflect the work of 73 women photographers from the mid-19th century to the present. They range from such early Victorian pioneers as Lady Clementina Hawarden to the recent work of Cindy Sherman, reconstructing a virtual pantheon. As well as encompassing the photographs of important early figures in the art--Julia Margaret Cameron, Gertrude Kasebier--Sullivan ( The Nude ) pays considerable attention to international modernist artists (Berenice Abbott, Imogen Cunningham, Germaine Krull, Dorothea Lange). Each photographer is represented by several examples of her work, eliciting a gamut of emotions from the viewer--cerebral admiration in the case of Margaret Bourke-White's shots of technology; horror in reponse to Lee Miller's depiction of the liberated Dachau concentration camp. Another service rendered by the book is the unveiling of obscure practitioners, such as the innovative English portraitist Madame Yevonde. A perceptive essay by art historian Janis provides a provocative critical framework for all. (Oct.)