Book Description
From Jimmy Carter to George W. Bush, Time magazine White House photographer Diana Walker has had unique access to the Presidency for more than 20 years. Public & Private demonstrates, in intriguing detail, that she has used her access brilliantly.
The 130 photographs in Public & Private cover the public aspects of the office—from inaugurations and state dinners to cabinet meetings and press conferences—bus also offer a rare, candid look at the private moments of the presidents, the first ladies, and the important figures in each administration. Missing no detail, Walker’s expert lens has captured world leaders, Congressional insiders, the White House press corps, and family moments away from the spotlight, including the Bushes at Kennebunkport and Bill and Hillary Clinton on safari in Botswana. Humorous and heartbreaking, joyful and deadly serious, Walker’s revealing images provide an unexpected understanding of the leaders we think we know so well.
With a foreword by renowned presidential historian Michael Beschloss, memories and perspectives contributed by the photographs’ subjects, and Walker’s own anecdotes, Public & Private is a unique and important contribution to the record of America’s highest office.
Public and Private: Twenty Years of White House Photography FROM THE PUBLISHER
As a White House photographer for TIME magazine, Diana Walker watched America's first families for more than 20 years, and in this one-of-a-kind collection of images she documents public events and private moments from Gerald Ford's Presidency through Bill Clinton's. A veritable gallery of America's leaders and visiting luminaries from all over the world, Public & Private presents a wonderful mix of historic moments and informal interludes that offers unique insight into the White House and the people who have lived and worked there for a quarter century. These are no ordinary photographs, for Walker has an eye for the telling moment. The occupants of the Oval Office invited her into areas of their lives usually off-limits to the press, and the result is a privileged portrait of our Presidents and their families and associates: Ronald Reagan sharing a joke with his Cabinet, George Bush playing with his grandchildren aboard Air Force One, and Bill Clinton looking out the window of the Oval Office on the day he relinquished the Presidency. Here too are important occasions like inaugurations, summits, and presidential trips abroad, where a Who's Who of American politics and journalism appear: Ted Kennedy and Tip O'Neill, Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, Bob Dole, Herblock, Jesse Jackson, and many, many more movers and shakers, along with such world leaders as Mikhail Gorbachev, Yitzhak Rabin, King Hussein, and Queen Elizabeth, to name only a few.
Diana Walker's introduction to the book gives insight into her work, describes what it's like to be a magazine photographer at the White House, and explains how she got there. For this book Walker interviewed all the former Presidents and First Ladies; their reminiscences and commentaries on the pictures, along with Walker's anecdotes, add immeasurably to our understanding of these leaders. As the title suggests, some of these photos, such as a formal portrait of six First Ladies, capture public moments, while others offer such intimate views as Bill Clinton receiving Dole's concession call after the 1996 election. And a few, such as Walker's backstage view of Al and Tipper Gore's famous kiss at the 2000 Democratic National Convention, are both public and private at once. Featuring 135 photographs in both color and black and white, as well as a foreword by presidential historian Michael Beschloss, this is a new and unusual perspective on the Presidency -- and a priceless, remarkably personal record of recent American history.
Art & Photography
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