From Booklist
Books can be works of art in terms of both their literary content and their design. Richard Ford introduces Author Photo, an almost wantonly satisfying collection of photographs by Ettlinger, who has made a genuine art form out of taking author's pictures. Ford describes Ettlinger as "tiny, exotic-seeming, dark-eyed," then muses over what exactly makes her author portraits so powerful. He concludes that it's a "confronting sensation of personal nearness," and, indeed, each beautifully composed portrait, whether it's theatrical or frank, is the fruit of an intimate collaboration between photographer and subject. Who has Ettlinger photographed? Alice Munro and Jennifer Egan. Raymond Carver and Ana Castillo. Russell Banks and ZZ Packer. Haruki Murakami and Thomas Mallon. Richard Rhodes and Erica Jong. Some writers are no longer with us, others are not readily recognized, but all are compelling. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Book Description
The writing life has long captured our collective imagination. What is it about writers, we wonder, that empowers them to work words into shapes and patterns that move us? The most affecting photographs possess that same power -- to reach out upon first sight, to capture our hearts and minds, to leave us smitten. Such is the feeling that comes from gazing at the work of Marion Ettlinger, a photographer celebrated for her "literary portrait power" (The Wall Street Journal). Author Photo collects, for the first time in book form, more than two hundred of Ettlinger's most famous photographs. Immortalized in these pages are many of America's greatest writers, including Raymond Carver, Francine Prose, Walter Mosley, Mary Karr, John Irving, Joyce Carol Oates, Truman Capote, Cormac McCarthy, Patricia Highsmith, Ken Kesey, Edwidge Danticat, and Jeffrey Eugenides. According to one of Ettlinger's Pulitzer Prize-winning subjects, "starkness and a sense of shadows" are at the core of her artistic allure. Shot exclusively in natural light and in black-and-white film, each of these images is an intimate artwork, putting the reader closer than ever before to the writers they revere and admire. A photographic paean to the literary spirit, Author Photo opens a rare and revealing window onto the timelessness of creativity.
About the Author
Marion Ettlinger has been a photographer since 1968. She lives in New York City.
Author Photo: Portraits, 1983-2002 FROM THE PUBLISHER
The writing life has long captured our collective imagination. What is it about writers, we wonder, that empowers them to work words into shapes and patterns that move us? The most affecting photographs possess that same power - to reach out upon first sight, to capture our hearts and minds, to leave us smitten.
Author Photo collects, for the first time in book form, more than two hundred of Marion Ettlinger's most famous photographs. Immortalized in these pages are many of America's greatest writers, including Raymond Carver, Francine Prose, Walter Mosley, Mary Karr, John Irving, Joyce Carol Oates, Truman Capote, Cormac McCarthy, Patricia Highsmith, Ken Kesey, Edwidge Danticat and Jeffrey Eugenides.
According to one of Ettlinger's Pulitzer Prize-winning subjects, "starkness and a sense of shadows" are at the core of her artistic allure. Shot exclusively in natural light and in black-and-white film, each of these images is an intimate artwork, putting the reader closer than ever before to the writers they revere and admire. Author Photo opens a rare and revealing window onto the timelessness of creativity.
FROM THE CRITICS
The New York Times
… these are sharply dramatic, brooding portraits of literary lights.
—Janet Maslin
Publishers Weekly
Designer Kidd's book covers and photographer Ettlinger's author photos deliver a shock of recognition-oh, so that's who designed the cover for Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park, and who hasn't seen that photo of Raymond Carver delivering that ponderous aquamarine glare into the camera? Kidd's accomplishments in repositioning the boundaries of book design come to the fore when presented in bulk, highlighting such innovations as running text across art, using found-art images (which usually include a healthy dose of extreme wit) and even printing type or photos upside down. Ettlinger's sleek photographs take on a slightly otherworldly quality, with authors delivering the same grave facial expression, staring into the camera as though trying to project into infinity. Rather than bringing out each author's individual qualities, Ettlinger instead molds them into an ideal of the author-and it works, despite the fact that anyone who's attended a book signing realizes that authors are as squinty, nerdy, spindly and awkward as the rest of us. Any lover of books will enjoy learning that the making of a book always involves more than one creative person; these two, presented in fittingly well-illustrated, carefully printed and thoughtfully laid-out editions, are at the forefront of managing readers' first impressions. (Oct.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
No two artists' names are more recognizable from their frequent appearances on book jackets than Marion Ettlinger and Chip Kidd-Ettlinger for her dramatic author photos and Kidd for his eye-candy designs. Elegantly presenting selections of both artists' work, these two books will entice obsessive fiction readers and publishing junkies, as well as professionals in commercial portraiture and graphic design. Ettlinger is the master of the author image and has captured some of the most famous (e.g., Joyce Carol Oates, Erica Jong, Truman Capote, Denis Johnson, and Ann Beattie), as well as those barely known. While her images don't look like celebrity shots-there are very few smiles, and all are black and white-they are glamorous in a way that says "literary," with thoughtful stares and frequently visible hands. Her style clearly comes out of an art historical aesthetic, and her subjects always manage to look stunning, smart, and authorial, whether they're just sitting on a backwards chair or posed with a theatrical backdrop. The only text apart from identifying captions is Richard Ford's brief foreword, where he admiringly recalls his own sitting for Ettlinger. This is the first time these 200 photos have been shown together inside a book rather than alone, gracing the back flap. Kidd has worked with many of the same authors in his nearly 20 years as a designer for Knopf and a freelancer elsewhere, and during that time his name has become synonymous with hip and beautiful book designs, though he also has a novel to his credit (The Cheese Monkeys; author photo by Ettlinger, of course). His jacket designs include the "two-image collages" he first became known for (e.g., the novels of Cormac McCarthy), as well as more elaborate designs, such as intricate die-cut and vellum overlays for books by Haruki Murakami and Michael Crichton. Graphic designer Vienne (Something To Be Desired: Essays on Design) provides an introduction, in which she discusses Kidd's developments in design, his fellow designers at Knopf, the innovative use of photography, and Kidd's obsession with comic books. Her discussion of his reputation as a "design demigod" will be of interest only to publishing insiders, but her commentary alongside each of the designs (about 100), with spry quotes from Kidd himself, point out the unexpected and ingenious connections between the book and the design elements. Though the aesthetic is different-Ettlinger seems to restore a lost dignity to literary authors, whereas Kidd makes their work look new-both contribute strikingly to the visual image of authors and their words.-Carolyn Kuebler, "Library Journal" Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Art & Photography
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