Focus - 9781476763460

From the New York Times bestselling author of The House of Outrageous Fortune, this gripping account of fashion photography’s golden age brings to life the wild genius—the ego, the passion, and the antics—of the men behind the camera.

Before the age of Instagram, the fashion photographer was the king of pop culture. From the post-war covers ofVogue until the dawn of the digital camera, the fashion photographer sold not only clothes but ideals of beauty. And though tempted by excessive lifestyles, the few photographers who rose to the top were artists above all.

In his follow-up to the New York Times bestselling Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women, Michael Gross probes the lives, hang-ups, and artistic triumphs of ten visionary fashion photographers: Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Gilles Bensimon, Steven Meisel, Bruce Weber, David Bailey, Bert Stern, Bill King, Bob and Terry Richardson. From Bruce Weber’s sensual, black-and-white snapshots to Richard Avedon’s intimate photographs and from Bob Richardson’s provocative portraits to his son Terry’s infamous studio, Gross takes a behind the scenes look at the revolutionary and sometimes fraught creative processes of these men.

Tracing the highs and lows of fashion photography from the 1950s to the 2000s, and weaving together gossipy interviews and insights into the birth of modern fashion, this exposé is a smart look at ten eccentric men, the shifting dynamics of pop culture, and—perhaps most importantly—what it takes to translate an artist’s vision into reality