Aperture Magazine Anthology: The Minor White Years, 1952-1976

Aperture Magazine Anthology: The Minor White Years, 1952-1976

Shortly after Maureen and I were married, we were talking about photography magazines. Because we are both photographers, it was a natural topic for us, but we were both surprised that neither of us subscribed to any photography magazines — for exactly the same reason. We were both far more interested in photographs than in cameras. Maureen then asked me a fateful question: "What would the magazine look like that you would subscribe to?" It was an easy question to answer — I pulled out a single copy of Camera Work by Alfred Stieglitz and the dozen or so copies I own of early Aperture magazines from the late 1950s when Minor White was still editor and driving force behind each issue. To this day, I still re-read them from time to time. What a wonderful and creative vision White had! Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to disparage Aperture in today's iteration, but those early issues were something particularly special.

As Maureen and I talked more about the crop of photography magazines available then compared to Stieglitz' and White's ideas about photography publishing, the seeds of LensWork were born. Clearly, we didn't invent anything, but I do like to think that we might have picked up a torch that Stieglitz and White had lit and carried a long, long way.

Aperture has released a terrific new volume paying tribute to those early issues of theirs and celebrating the Minor White years. I think it is a must-have book for every photo library — especially because the original Aperture issues from those years are so rare and now expensive collectibles. In this single volume you won't find the entire contents from those years, but it is a substantial collection that does more than simply highlight a few high-water marks. It's beefy — 455 pages — and a fabulous resource with wonderful reproductions, articles, and historic content.

If you've never seen the early Aperture issues, you have a real treat ahead of you. Even if the current editorial direction of today's Aperture is not to your liking, anyone who is a fan of LensWork will find a great deal in these earlier issues of Aperture to learn from and enjoy. For less than $30 this is a wonderful volume that will provide you lots of inspiration and hours of enjoyment.

I know it's probably odd for us to recommend a book from a publisher some of you might think are our competitors, but I've always thought of Aperture more like a bigger brother than a rival. Even if we have some "sibling rivalry," anyone who champions images over gear deserves our respect and admiration.

Aperture Magazine Anthology: The Minor White Years, 1952-1976

Comments

[Montie Talbert]

"...the seeds of LensWork were born. Clearly, we didn't invent anything, but I do like to think that we might have picked up a torch that Stieglitz and White had lit and carried a long, long way."

You have done that admirably, as I'm sure many of us "Old Timers" would agree! ;-)

Montie Talbert

[Jerry Jelinek]

Thanks Brooks for the heads up on this. I have a few of the older editions of Aperture, and always find Minor Whites vision truly unique and challenging.

You bring up a question that I have not been able to find an answer for. I know there exists the Taschen publication of the complete images from Stieglitz's Camera Work. But after seeing a few of the Camera Work publications in a museum a few years ago, I realized Camera Work had text(articles) and ads in it. Are there any contemporary publications that have the text portion of Camera Work reproduced in them?

[Allen]

There are three volumes of Camera Work reprints available on Lulu. They include issues 1-12, and contain all of the text, ads, and images, as far as I can tell.

[Michael J Carl]

Good call Brooks! I just received my copy yesterday afternoon. The book is not a page by page reproduction but it contains everything of importance from the heyday of Aperture. I can't even read the current version. I pick it from time to time at my local Barnes and Noble and put it back just shaking my head. Looking forward to a slow, enjoyable read of what amounts to a class on photography by a great teacher. I envision a lot of note taking.