Album for an Age: Unconventional Words and Pictures From the Twentieth Century

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About Album For An Age: Unconventional Words And Pictures

Product Description In forty-five years as one of America's liveliest photographers for Life, Time, and other assignments, Art Shay has established a world-wide reputation for capturing the oddities of the moment. His photographs of Khrushchev, Liberace, Harry Truman, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Nelson Algren, George Solti, and hundreds of other luminaries are not the usual portraits; they are people off-guard, memorable for their humanity rather than their celebrity. But, unlike other great photographers of his time, Art Shay has a way with words. His prose is sharp, vivid, and evocative, the product of a well-nurtured mind and a cultivated intellect. In Album for an Age he puts both his words and his pictures to work, and the result is a delightful, entertaining, thoughtful, and sometimes wacky sightseeing tour of many of the major personalities and events of the last fifty years. "Daumier," Mr. Shay writes, "taught me to aim my predatory camera at the contumely, at snobbery, pretensions, cruelty, and the machinery of petty power." Some of it, though, he can't help liking; all of it he writes about with wit and insight. Here is a marvelously unconventional book by an unconventional photographer—not a picture book but a book with pictures. Review The best photojournalist I know. (Hugh Hefner ) His pictures are universal...they tell of greed and lust and ambition and snowy days...they tell us about life. (Rich Cahan, Photography Director of City 2000, former Chicago Sun-Times picture editor )One of our truest photographers...captures the beauty, humor, and pathos of America. (Studs Terkel )My initial admiration for his talent and courage have never dimmed. How could they? Just look at the pictures. (Garry Wills )Art Shay's vivid and unique portrayals are a treasure. (Scott Turow )Hard-hitting portraits of our time...compassionate and full of humor. (The New York Times ) From the Inside Flap In forty-five years as one of America’s liveliest and most accomplished photographers—for Life, Time, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, and other assignments—Art Shay has established a world-wide reputation for capturing the odd moment. His photographs of Khrushchev, Liberace, Harry Truman, Judy Garland, Marlon Brando, Nelson Algren, Liz Taylor, George Solti, and hundreds of other luminaries are not the usual portraits. They are people off-guard, memorable for their humanity rather than their celebrity. But there is more to Art Shay than a camera. Unlike other great photographers of his time, Mr. Shay has a way with words. His prose is sharp, vivid, and evocative, the product of a well-nurtured mind and a cultivated intellect. His observations are pointed and his interests wide-ranging. He’s adept at bringing great reputations down to size, and he never forgets his own origins. In Album for an Age, Mr. Shay puts both his words and his pictures to work. The result is a delightful, entertaining, thoughtful, and sometimes wacky sightseeing tour of many of the major personalities and events of the last fifty years. “Daumier,” he writes, “taught me to aim my predatory camera at the contumely, snobbery, pretensions, cruelty, and machinery of petty power.” Some of it, though, he can’t help liking; all of it he writes about with wit and insight. Here is a marvelously unconventional book by an unconventional photographer—not a picture book but a book with pictures. About the Author After flying combat missions in World War II, Art Shay took a job as a staff reporter at Life. There he wrote a hundred anonymous stories and did time in New York, Washington, San Francisco, and Chicago, finally leaving to pursue his early love, the camera. He was soon shooting pictures regularly for Time, Life, Fortune, the Saturday Evening Post, Forbes, Business Week, Parade, and the New York Times Magazine. Mr. Shay’s photographs sell for fancy prices in galleries, and they have appeared in more than seventy books, many of them for children. He lives in Dee