Book Review: Face Time: A History of the Photographic Portrait
© Katy Grannan, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
Katy Grannan, Anonymous, Oakland, California, 2011, from the series "The 99", 2011-2014
Written by Aaron Norton
When it comes to the medium of photographic portraits, there seems to be one main reason for capturing these moments in time – to tell a story. Portraiture has the innate ability to focus on every minor detail of the subject, or subjects, in the piece. With these details being so present throughout these works, we tend to see a vulnerability and sense a presence from the photograph that we wouldn’t necessarily feel from other types of photography.
In Phillip Prodger’s Face Time: A History of Photographic Portrait, the reader is not only taken through an unbelievably complex and intricate history of portraiture, but is also introduced to a number of thought-provoking chapters that include the themes of identity, media in a digital age and how portrait photography impacts fashion and other industries. With each chapter, Prodger highlights certain works and talks the reader through every nuanced decision that the photographer might’ve made to take that perfect shot.
Ilfochrome print. Photo Tom Hunter
Tom Hunter, Woman Reading a Possession Order, 1997
In his own words, Prodger says, “A great portrait is both a collaboration and a negotiation – a dance of wills in which photographer and subject push and pull to arrive at a compelling result.” As a reader, you can both see and feel that compelling result in each work that Prodger chose to feature in this book. It’s almost as if every portrait was carefully selected to emphasize the points made by Prodger throughout his work.
Courtesy Weronika Gęsicka and JEDNOSTKA Gallery
Weronika Gesicka, Untitled #32, 2016 from the "Traces" series, 2015-2017
With eight chapters in all, Face Time is full of beautiful photographs by some of the most well-known portrait photographers both past and present – including Charis Wilson, David LaChappelle, Richard Avedon and Lee Miller. Along with these incredible pieces of art, Phillip Prodger uses his expertise as a museum curator and an art historian to bring a true sense of why portraiture is such an interesting photographic style. After reading about these works in the book, you can begin to understand just how impactful portraiture is in the world of photography. It’s not staged, but rather, an organic and natural way of conveying emotion.
Courtesy Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris. © Malick Sidibé,
Malick Sidibé, Un jeune gentleman (A young gentleman), 1978
Phillip Prodger is an English museum curator, author and art historian. Along with Face Time: A History of Photographic Portrait, Prodger has published a number of works including Darwin’s Camera: Art and Photography in the Theory of Evolution and Time Stands Still: Muybridge and the Instantaneous Photography Movement. As a museum curator, Prodger has held curatorial positions at the Cantor Center for Visual Arts in Stanford, the Saint Louis Art Museum, and the Peabody Essex Museum in London. Face Time: A History of Photographic Portrait is available for purchase at Thames & Hudson.
