A renowned photographer curator and critic offers extraordinary insights into the evolution
and significance of portrait photography. "When we contemplate a portrait " says Gerry
Badger in his introduction to this book "we are asked to contemplate life. . . . We are drawn
powerfully to the person depicted." The relational aspect of portraiture comes into sharp focus
through this personal selection of photographic portraits from the past two centuries. Here
readers will find very-well known works by widely recognized photographers together with
lesser-known but no less superb pictures by lesser-known artists. Tied together with Badger's
unique insights these photographs reference and complement each other in an ongoing
conversation about portrait photography's history perspectives and concerns. Each entry
features a gorgeous full-page duotone or color image accompanied by a brief essay. Badger's
exacting insights and encyclopedic knowledge of his subject lead readers through a
scintillating discussion that examines "death" portraits by Hippolyte Bayard and Sunil Gupta
issues of colonialism and racism through works by Malaysian photographer Yee I-Lann and Samuel
Miller's portrait of Frederick Douglass portraits of women from the 19th and 20th centuries
and what is perhaps the first "celebrity" photograph of Sarah Bernhardt. Including a variety of
mediums from calotype and collage to palladium and ink-jet prints this volume is a
marvelously enlightening masterclass on photographic portraiture as well as a unique and
valuable reference work.
