Photography and Humour (Exposures)

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Photography and Humour (Exposures) Paperback – 5 Dec 2016
by Louis Kaplan (Author)

Some photos are haunting, some breathtaking; some are illuminating, and some are beautiful. And some photos as those of us who have ever been on the internet know are downright hilarious. But humor has often been on the sidelines of photography scholarship. With this book, Louis Kaplan remedies this, gathering together over one hundred images in a revealing look at the way photographers from the very beginning of photography in the nineteenth century have found so much amusement at the ends of their lenses. Kaplan introduces readers to a key set of genres in photographic humor, showing how humor is often tied to serious topics such as our identity, social situations, and yes death. He offers a fascinating range of examples, from stereographic domestic comedies to biting political satire, from conceptual artistic pratfalls to surrealist humour noir, and from trick photography to decisively hilarious moments in photojournalism. In doing so, he brings together works by renowned photographers including Jacques Henri Lartigue, Elliott Erwitt, Weegee, Cindy Sherman, and Martin Parr as well as those by your everyday photoshopper. The result is a rich collection of the witty, the absurd, and the uproarious.”

Product details
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Reaktion Books (5 Dec. 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1780236514
ISBN-13: 978-1780236513
Product Dimensions: 19 x 1.8 x 22 cm
Average Customer Review: Be the first to review this item
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,682,107 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Review
In this excellent addition to a compelling series, Kaplan offers a stirring riposte to photography s traditional association with morbid sensibility, tracing the impact of the medium through a constellation of humorous genres: from vaudeville and slapstick to ridicule, satire, and the contrivances of cultural stereotypes yet not forgetting the oddball disquisition on mortality represented by gallows humor. His keen reflections on the work of canonical photographers (Henri Cartier-Bresson, Garry Winogrand, and Jeff Wall, among others) is leavened by discussions of lesser-known figures and a buffet of amateur, anonymous, or commercial images. Photography is served up, here, with a side of mirth and merriment, sauced with a dash of mayhem. –John C. Welchman, University of California, San Diego and Chair of the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts”

“In this excellent addition to a compelling series, Kaplan offers a stirring riposte to photography’s traditional association with ‘morbid sensibility, ‘ tracing the impact of the medium through a constellation of humorous genres: from vaudeville and slapstick to ridicule, satire, and the contrivances of cultural stereotypes–yet not forgetting the oddball disquisition on mortality represented by gallows humor. His keen reflections on the work of canonical photographers (Henri Cartier-Bresson, Garry Winogrand, and Jeff Wall, among others) is leavened by discussions of lesser-known figures and a buffet of amateur, anonymous, or commercial images. Photography is served up, here, with a side of mirth and merriment, sauced with a dash of mayhem.”–John C. Welchman, University of California, San Diego and Chair of the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts

“What’s so funny about photography? Louis Kaplan answers this question and many more in this playful and provocative new book. Photography and Humour is a marvelous survey of funny pictures, ranging from the black humour of Hippolyte Bayard’s 1840 “Self-portrait as a Drowned Man” to viral internet hoaxes from the past few decades. Writing in lucid and entertaining prose, Kaplan delves deep into the history of the medium, pulling dozens of choice examples from photography’s bountiful bag of tricks.”
–Mia Fineman, Associate Curator, Photographs, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

About the Author
Louis Kaplan is professor of the history and theory of photography and new media at the University of Toronto. He is the author of several books including, most recently, The Strange Case of William Mumler, Spirit Photographer.”

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