THE PHOTOBOOK ISSUE
The winter 2016 issue of Source is all about Photobooks. What is the greatest ever photobook? We have conducted an international poll to discover the answer to this question, asking photographers, publishers, critics, booksellers, collectors and others to nominate their favourite books of all time. You can see additional analysis in the magazine but here are the results including the comments and selections of every nominator.
Browse Photobook Poll Results:
(indexed by voter name)
Photobook Poll Results - A:
10x10 Photobooks
Russet, Matthew and Olga, USA
Anna Atkins, Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, 1843
Claude Cahun, Aveux non avenus, 1930
Nell Dorr, In a Blue Moon, 1939
Alicia D'Amico and Sara Facio, Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, 1968
Diane Arbus, Diane Arbus, 1972
Claudia Andujar, Mitopoemas Yanomam, 1978
Miyako Ishiuchi, Yokosuka Story, 1979
Mao Ishikawa, Atsuki Hibi in Kyampu Hansen / Hot Days in Camp Hansen, 1982
Nan Goldin, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, 1986
Mariken Wessels, Taking Off. Henry my neighbor, 2015
With the first book illustrated with photographic images published by a woman in 1843, the 10x10 Photobooks team saw an opportunity to present a list of favorite photobooks created by women photographers. In the 173 years since Anna Atkins privately published Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, there have been many superb photobook examples by women. Listed here are ten books that highlight the diverse and distinctive voices that women bring to the photobook format.
Vince Aletti
Photography Critic, The New Yorker, USA
Robert Frank, The Americans, 1959.
William Klein, New York, 1956.
Nan Goldin, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, 1986.
Larry Clark, Tulsa, 1979.
Richard Avedon, Observations, 1959.
Irving Penn, Moments Preserved, 1960.
Diane Arbus, Diane Arbus, 1972.
Peter Hujar, Portraits in Life and Death, 1976.
Lucas Samaras, Samaras Album, 1971.
Ed Ruscha, Every Building on the Sunset Strip, 1966.
Martin Amis
Bookseller, Photobookstore, UK
Takuma Nakahira, For A Language To Come, 1970.
One of the bleakest photobooks ever made, this 1970 book exemplifies the Provoke aesthetic.
William Klein, New York, 1956.
Klein's raucous masterpiece has everything. Groundbreaking images, great design and perfect sequencing.
Kikuji Kawada, Chizu (The Map), 1965.
Anybody who thinks "Photobook as Object" is a new phenomenon needs to spend time with this incredible complex work with it's extraordinary folding design .
Krass Clement, Drum, 1996.
With just three rolls of film, Krass Clement created a photobook that most would take a lifetime to achieve.
Alec Soth, Sleeping by The Mississippi, 2004.
A book which inspired a generation of photographs, and one which made me want to sell and share photobooks with people.
Ikko Narahara, Spain: Idai Naru Gogo / Grand Tarde, 1969.
Not one for the bedside table, this bold, amazing (and huge) book features gatefolds throughout and deserves more attention in the lists of great Japanese photobooks.
Masahisa Fukase, Ravens, 1986.
A beautiful portrayal of depression, this obsessive study of ravens (a symbol of bad omens) is justifiably one of the most sought-after photobooks.
Yutaka Takanashi, Towards the City, 1974.
This luxurious book came housed in a complete with a metal disc on the cover, and is another brooding (and the final) masterpiece of the Provoke era of Japanese photobooks.
Chris Killip, In Flagrante, 1988.
Another dark book, In Flagrante is one of the finest examples of British documentary photography.
Richard Billingham, Ray's A Laugh, 1996.
Hard to believe this book is now 30 years old, it's influence can still be seen in many others. A candid, gently humorous chaotic family album.
Maxwell Anderson
Publisher, Bemojake, UK
Rinko Kawauchi, Cui Cui, 2005.
Josef Koudelka, Exiles, 1988.
Yamamoto Masao, É, 2000.
Lars Tunbjork, Vinter, 2007.
Nobuyoshi Araki, Sentimental Journey, 1972.
Stephen Shore, Uncommon Places, 1982.
Masahisa Fukase, Ravens, 1986.
Hiromix, Works, 2000.
Paul Graham, End of An Age, 1999.
Bernhard Fuchs, Portraits, 1999.
Blake Andrews
Photographer and Blogger, USA
Ed Ruscha, Every Building On The Sunset Strip, 1966.
Prescient in subject, novel in treatment, mute in judgement.
Lee Friedlander, Self Portrait, 1970.
Selfies gone Haywire.
Diane Arbus, Aperture Monograph, 1972.
Punch-to-the-gut portraits prefaced by the best intro of any photobook.
William Eggleston's Guide, 1976.
Knocks you off balance from the start, then keeps you there.
Nancy Rexroth, Iowa, 1977.
A perfectly paced book, beautifully out of step.
Larry Sultan and Mike Mandel, Evidence, 1977.
A watershed moment in curation and, more importantly, a collection of fantastic photographs.
Stephen Shore, Uncommon Places, 1982.
Sometimes a difference of inches is the difference between catching a fish or not.
Sally Mann, Immediate Family, 1992.
Bewitching combination of intimacy and removal.
Stephen Gill, Hackney Flowers, 2007.
A meditation on collage, whimsy, and decay by a self-publishing guru.
Ed Templeton, Deformer, 2008.
Skatepunk adolescent id spilled unfiltered across the pages.
Regina Maria Anzenberger
Director of the Vienna Photobook Festival, Austria
Eikoh Hosoe, Kamaitachi, 1969.
Henri Cartier-Bresson, The Decisive Moment, 1952.
Masao Yamamoto, Nakazora, 2001.
Cristina de Middel, The Afronauts, 2012.
Rafal Milach, The Black Sea of Concrete, 2013.
Carolyn Drake, Two Rivers, 2013.
Gregory Colbert, Ashes and Snow, 2005.
Ester Vonplon, Gletscherfahrt, 2015.
Alena Zhandarova, The City of Brides, 2013.
Klaus Pichler, Golden days before they end, 2016.
It is very difficult to choose ten from so many excellent historical and contemporary books. Therefore my selection is a very subjective list. I love books which combine different medias like drawing, painting and photography and I love excellent and creative designs. I tried to get a balance in my choice of female and male photographers as well as black and white and colour photography.
Simon Armstrong
Book buyer for Tate and founder of Armstrong Projects publishing agency, UK
Saul Leiter, Early Color, 2006.
My all time favourite, both the images and the book itself, perfectly executed.
Henry Chalfont, Spraycan Art, 1987.
Where my passion for art, type and photography began. This book changed my life.
Yu Ogata and Ichiro Ogata Ono, House, 2009.
A wonderful series of images of derelict houses filled with sand.
Christian Patterson, Redheaded Peckerwood, 2011.
Fine example of photobook as story. Enigmatic and impressively designed.
Bruce Davidson, Subway, 1986.
An undisputed classic. The colour and the up close shots make you feel the heat and grime of New York.
Sergio Larrain, Vagabond Photographer, 2013.
I was a fan of his London 1959 series, but this book has everything. Essential.
Alec Soth, Broken Manual, 2010.
A great photobook about hermits turned into a fictional tale. Concept, images, text and design all 10/10.
Cristina De Middel, The Afronauts, 2012.
A blend of fact and fiction surrounding Zambia's attempt to join the space race in 1964. Surreal and majestic.
Mike Brodie, A Period of Juvenile Prosperity, 2013.
Brodie's remarkable document of his travels trainhopping and hitching across America.
Todd Hido, Intimate Distance, 2016.
Just released, a stunning mid-career retrospective from the master.
Olivia Arthur
Photographer, UK
Taiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs, The Great Unreal, 2011.
A book that I come back to again and again. It is clever and funny and it questions as well as celebrates photography.
Luc Delahaye, Wintereise, 2003.
A book that made me realise that the whole can be greater than the sum of the parts.
Jim Goldberg, Raised by Wolves, 1995.
Engrossing in a way that is normally only possible in film or a good novel. I got lost in the characters, the story, the involvement.
Yto Barrada, A Life Full of Holes, 2005.
A book that was very influential for me at a certain time. The quiet thoughtfulness of the images goes well beyond what they contain on the surface.
Jacob Aue Sobol, Sabine, 2004.
A love story shared that is so close it makes you fall in love with her too.
Saul Leiter, Early Colour, 2006.
A celebration of the simple pleasure of photography.
Stephen Gill, Hackney Flowers, 2007.
When I first saw images from Hackney Flowers I found them too contrived but the work really grew on me and I think it captures Stephen Gill's quirkiness and appreciation of the things many of the rest of us miss perhaps more than its more famous brother, Hackney Wick.
Wolfgang Tillmanns, Burg, 1998.
A work that Philipp (Ebeling) introduced me to and a way of seeing that broadened my horizon.
Giles Peress, Telex Iran, 1984.
Combines text and image in such a startling and fresh way that makes the journey he takes us on incredibly powerful.
Vivianne Sassen, Flamboya, 2008.
For the playfulness in the way the images have been put together and the mysterious feeling it gives as a whole.
I tried to make a 'best ever' list but in the end I realised that it is just impossible to compare some of the early books to things that are made now in a completely different climate. So this list is really just the books that have influenced or been important for me in some way.
Tommy Arvidson
Writer and photographer in Gothenburg, Sweden
Gerry Johansson, Sverige, 2005
Kent Klich, Killing Time, 2013
Bruce Davidson, Subway,1986
Sune Jonsson, The village with the blue house, 1959
Anders Petersen, Café Lehmitz, 1978
Lars Tunbjörk, Country beside itself, 1993
Trine Søndergaard, Now that you are mine, 2002
Christian Patterson, Redheaded Peckerwood, 2012
Nina Korhonen, Anna Amerikan mummu, 2004
Agneta Ekman, Tall-Maja, 1967
What I can give you is a very personal list – ten books that I like very much and that I return to often. My list also leans towards Scandinavia because I wonder how well known, for example, Lars Tunbjörk would have been, had he been living in the USA. Then, I presume we would have seen volume after volume being produced by Aperture and Steidl.
PS. The Americans is not be on my list. It's far too obvious a choice.
Craig Atkinson
Publisher, Cafe Royal Books, UK
John Baeder, Sign Language, 1966.
Martin Parr, Bad weather, 1982.
Ed Ruscha, Thirtyfour Parking Lots in Los Angeles, 1967.
Moriyama, Bye Bye photography.
Tom wood, Looking for love, 1989.
Stephen Gill, A series of disappointments, 2008.
Harry Smith, aper Airplanes - The Collections of Harry Smith, 2015.
John Myers, Middle England, 2012.
Britt Salvesen & Various, New topographics, 2009.
Lisa Phillips, Beat Culture and the New America: 1950-1965, 1996.
Browse Photobook Poll Results:
(indexed by voter name)