Posted on by Alec Soth

A photobook trend

The four books below were produced between 1948-1953. They all follow a similar formula of a leading question followed by a comic photographic response. Know of any other books that follow this trend?


The Frenchman, 1948


The Stenographer, 1950


The Candidate, 1952


Oh, Dr. Kinsey!, 1953

15 Replies to “A photobook trend”

  7. Muskrat & Monkeypaw…what fantastic readers!

    Seriously, Small Talk is a perfect fit. And the Feldman/Obrist book is a perfect contemporary counterpart. (So is Schatz, I suppose, but I think it needs to age 60 years before I’ll want to look at it).

  8. LBM:

    ok, now i understand the parameters :))….next week, i’ll have another look around for 60+ books with questions (monkey is chock-full of them: weird shit there indeed)……will be baring gifts upon your arrival for the crew :))

    running, deadline
    b

  9. … following up on your blog posting regarding photobooks that pose a
    question followed by a “comic photographic” response I thought you might like to
    see these pages from a little book that I have always liked. It’s from
    Diesel Clothing and was made in 1996….. perhaps not entirely in the vein
    of your books but worth a look….

    diesel

    best regards and keep blogging…..

    Herbert Bodger
    Boise Idaho Camera Club

  11. among the variable pieces (which are to me very much worth looking at) from douglas huebler there is one i know that works this way – with a twist. i couldnt find an image available to share, it’s in the douglas fogle catalogue “last picture show”. In variable piece #101 from 1972 huebler asked bernd becher to “look like” a priest, a criminal, a lover, an old man, a police man, an artist, “Bernd Becher”, a spy, a nice guy and a philosopher. The artwork that comes with 10 images (of a surprisingly hilarious Becher) goes on to state: “To make it almost impossible for Becher to remember his own “faces” more than 2 months were allowed to pass before the prints of the photographs were sent to him; the photographs were numbered differently from the original sequence and Becher was asked to make the “correct” associations ..”

  12. Hey Seb,

    Thanks that was pretty fun and interesting to look at especially as I couldn’t find out which text goes with which face, and so, I had to play the association game too!

    http://truthcopy.tumblr.com/post/430107686/variable-piece-101-1972-by-douglas-huebler

    It’s a bit like playing at inventing caption’s for news and media images.

    http://www.private-eye.co.uk/covers.php?showme=1257&

    http://truthcopy.tumblr.com/post/430107686/variable-piece-101-1972-by-douglas-huebler

  13. wonder if “huebler” shot them at “becher”, it sure looks that way. or did they have cards they were juggling with random jobs. sure looks like they were having a good time. great to see them on the “web”.

  14. No additional suggestions, but it’s well worth getting hold of Philippe Halsman’s book “Halsman on the Creation of Photographic Ideas” for more background on this trend and on the genesis of the Frenchman book.

    Funny seeing that Diesel catalogue posted above too – that catalogue kinda got me sacked (long story)

  15. I really enjoyed these Photo books. When I viewed the first few, I thought they were just humorous nonsense but the last one, entitled “Oh! Dr. Kinsey!” was on a subject that is known to me. The photographic reactions to the Kinsey report are hilarious; when the report was published it caused huge controversy, where as today, we would think nothing of it. After recognizing the subject matter of the fourth book, I did a little research and was delighted to find the identities of the two male subjects!

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