From Booklist
Architecture poses many challenges for photographers, inspiring Ken Hedrich to make the pronouncement that became the motto for the firm he co-founded: "Don't make photographs, think them." Established in Chicago in 1929, Hedrich Blessing attracted the finest photographers and the most innovative and influential architects, ultimately amassing an immense and artistically superb archive of architectural photographs that is now housed at the Chicago Historical Society. This sumptuous volume, gracefully introduced by Hiss, presents the cream of the collection, the impeccable and often poetic work of 19 preeminent photographers who captured the form and spirit of buildings by such key architects as Holabird & Root; Mies van der Rohe; Skidmore, Ownings & Merrill; and Albert Kahn. From the spare to the opulent, from velvety black-and-white to color of astonishing delicacy, these gorgeous images bring out the essence of the structures they chronicle and explore the ways architecture defines the human landscape, and even vision itself. Donna Seaman
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Book Description
Nobody can make a building soar like the architectural photographers of Hedrich Blessing. Since 1930, they have been the world's messenger of modern architecture. Based in Chicago, the architectural photography firm has achieved an international reputation that extends far beyond its regional association, and has made them the photographers of choice for some of the greatest architects of our time. Coinciding with a major retrospective at the Chicago Historical Society, Building Images: Seventy Years of Photography at Hedrich Blessing chronicles the history of this groundbreaking firm with close to 150 dazzling shots of architectural and design masterpieces by such greats as Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, Albert Kahn, Eliel Saarinen, Bruce Graham, and many more. Architectural historian and memoirist Tony Hiss contributes a lyrical, insightful essay on what makes the assiduous photographers of Hedrich Blessing rise above the rest. Building Images brings the majesty, nuance, and poetry of our era's great buildings to light with these indelible photographs.


About the Author
Tony Hiss is the author of five previous books, including The Experience of Place and the much acclaimed From Alger's Window: A Son's Memoir. He is a leading figure in the emerging science of place and lives in New York City.

FROM THE PUBLISHER