One Hundred Photographs

Rating:
Summary: ONE HUNDRED DISCOVERIES
Review: CAMERA ARTS magazine, 2003

This book follows the format of Looking at Photographs, John Szarkowski's 1973 catalog of 100 pictures: picture on the right and a small block of explanatory text on the right.

Bernard (1928-2000) was a picture editor for British magazines who was hired by a private client to assemble a great collection. This book turns us into that wealthy patron.

There is no way Bernard could have purchased 100 pictures to equal those icons Szarkowski selected from the photo collection at the Museum of Modern Art.

But that plays to the collection's advantage. Most of these pictures we've never seen before, and for the most part they're terrific. Here's a photo of Duke Ellington "conducting with his legs." Here's a breathtaking seascape by Harry Callahan. And, oh yes: here are three panels from 1941 that combine to form a short filmstrip documenting a genre known as "cheesecake."

Bernard had an eye for the fresh discovery. His frank, witty preface is fun to read. Mark Hayworth-Booth (the photo curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London) has supplied astute comments for all the pictures, as well as a brief biography of Bernard, "a picture editor of the highest talent."