The Art of Persuasion: A History of Advertising Photography

Published in conjunction with a world-touring photographic exhibition, this handsome volume chronicles the evolution of advertising photography from straightforward 19th century product images, to present-day work by Bert Stern, Henry Wolf, Irving Penn and others who create an entire advertisement in a single sophisticated photograph. Print advertising can reflect social climate but is more often a trendsetter, we see here: Edward Steichen's elegantly profiled cigarette lighters, for example, or modernist patterns (Auguste Sander, Moholy-Nagy et al.) of the '20s and '30s, the more recently familiar Marlboro and Hathaway men along with Onofrio Paccione's thigh-bound necklace and Penn's lipstick ""palette.'' Sobieszek, curator of the exhibit, has had a difficult task, since much of the original material, not considered ``art,'' was lost or destroyed. Photography Book Club alternate. (May)