Louise Dahl-Wolfe: A Retrospective

Rating:
Summary: Good presentation of Dahl-Wolfe's Photography
Review: Louise Dahl-Wolfe shot some captivating images, as evidenced by the cover, and apparently was one of the best fashion photographers of the middle 20th C. The book contains 2 essays which kind of overlap in content and some plates of her B&W and color work, as well as outtakes, and some reportage work. The printing quality was okay, with the exception that a lot of the color photographs were scanned from either the printing plates (or more likely) magazines because they had visible dot pattern. I don't know if the original color images had faded beyond repair, were lost, or, the authors may have made made an aesthetic/representation choice here. One essay described how Dahl-Wolfe was very exacting with the printing presses and perhaps the printed images best represented her vision, however, for me the dot artifacts detracted from the pictures, which were quite excellent. It is easy to see why Dahl-Wolfe is regarded as an early master of color fashion photography. Worth picking up on overstock if interested in fashion or fashion photography.