Louis Stettner

Sally Martin Katz, David Campany, Karl Orend, James Iffland

An authoritative, full-career retrospective of Louis Stettner, the great twentieth-century American photographer, reproducing his finest works in one stunning volume.

This volume brings together the most important photographs from the long career of Louis Stettner. Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1922, Stettner's life would span nearly a century, his work reflecting the unique vision of one of the twentieth-century's master photographers.

Organized chronologically, Louis Stettner presents approximately 190 photographs from Stettner’s career, featuring his iconic images of New York and Paris; the architecture of urban wonders such as Penn Station, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the New York City subway; as well as candid and empathetic street photographs of the people who inhabit these metropolitan centers.

While celebrated for his black-and-white works, the book also includes Stettner's works in color, many previously unpublished and unknown. The authors investigate the influence of his experiences as a photographer in World War II on his life and work. They also explore his experience with the celebrated Photo League cooperative and his relationships with photographers such as Weegee, Sid Grossman, Ruth Orkin, and Berenice Abbott. The result is a definitive book on Stettner's photography—making the work of the great lensman available to generations of readers.

Contributors

Sally Martin Katz

Author

Sally Martin Katz is curatorial assistant of photography at SFMOMA and a PhD candidate in art history at the Université Paris | Panthéon-Sorbonne, focusing on the history of photography.

David Campany

Author

David Campany is a renowned writer and curator with particular expertise in American photography. His many books include William Klein: Yes, The Open Road: Photography and the American Road Trip, and Walker Evans: the Magazine Work. He is curator at large for the International Center of Photography, New York.

Karl Orend

Author

Karl Orend is an author and editor, and the founder and director of Alyscamps Press. He was manager of Shakespeare & Company in Paris for ten years, and is a leading authority on Henry Miller, as well as a translator of several classics of surrealism including work by André Breton, Paul Eluard, and Man Ray.

James Iffland

Author

James Iffland is emeritus professor of Spanish and Latin American studies at Boston University.