More Reviews for Philip Trager
Photographing INA
“What is most compelling in these portraits…is the seeming ease with which [the subject’s] warmth and intelligence is revealed…powerful, intimate relationship between artist and subject…the photographs are characterized by an undisguised and loving honesty.” – Huffington Post
“[I]ntimate, openly theatrical images…embody an enduring love and shared passion for art…striking and intimate photographs…sophisticated, complex use of color…The images are as much about the act of photographing, perception, color and light, as they are about his subject, whose presence is a constant and unifying motif.” – L'Oeil de la Photographie
“…an intriguing photographic tribute to [Trager’s] wife, Ina…remarkable…offers portraits that are insightful…charming and dramatic…a rewarding pleasure….” – New York Journal of Books
NEW YORK in the 1970s
“…dramatic expanses of empty streets and towering skyscrapers that imbue the city with a quiet elegance…[Trager’s] portrayal is of a city…that commands attention with its imposing magnificence and inspires with its grandeur…beautifully printed….” – New York Journal of Books
“He shows us...the play of shadow and light...iconic images of the city... an homage to an eternal city….” – Ideat, Le magazine deco et design du moment
“…full of dynamic compositions…aesthetically satisfying…Trager’s innate understanding of the visual relationship between buildings has seen his photographs regarded as landmarks themselves in the architectural world.” – Black + White Magazine
“…highlights the essence of the city that stands the test of time…concentrated attention on the interaction between the city’s buildings and the dynamics of the street…presents Manhattan in a way that’s…luminous and dream-like…a superb historic record….” – Real Clear Life
“[T]his treasure trove of long forgotten photographs capture an unvarnished and captivating portrait of a place.” – Huffington Post
“Trager’s photographs…present a New York that [is] regal, and quiet…perspectives we are not accustomed to seeing…an accomplished and excellent group of pictures…a superb book….” – a Photo Editor
Philip Trager: Retrospective
“One of the most felicitous miracles in God’s world is that artists find the instrument they need. Itzhak Perlman comes to the violin. Emily Dickinson tinkers with words. Mikhail Baryshnikov hurls his body into space. And Philip Trager gets to record buildings he sees on the ground glass of a large-format view camera…Almost every image incorporates a fresh photographic idea… As always with Mr. Trager, every element of the picture seems to be just where it should…” – The New York Sun
“…the book is gorgeous: photographs from Connecticut to Italy, with not a few pages of NYC architecture that could leave one reeling. If one is a fan of photography or architecture, I would have to recommend this volume as essential…” – Lexiphane.com
“(A) comprehensive volume of Philip Trager's peerless black-and-white photography…formal and tonal perfection…crispness and purity…capture(s) a sense of place few other photographers can claim. Trager's studies...seem on a painterly par with Edward Hopper." – E-Photo Newsletter
“One of the most felicitous miracles in God’s world is that artists find the instrument they need. Itzhak Perlman comes to the violin. Emily Dickinson tinkers with words. Mikhail Baryshnikov hurls his body into space. And Philip Trager gets to record buildings he sees on the ground glass of a large-format view camera…Almost every image incorporates a fresh photographic idea… As always with Mr. Trager, every element of the picture seems to be just where it should…” – The New York Sun
“…useful essays, an interview, reference material and more. Handsomely produced and printed, [Philip Trager] will surely become the standard work on Trager…we wonder why no one thought of photographing New York this way prior to Trager…his masterpiece project Palladian Villas…made everything new, endowing the structures with a spiritual quality…serious readers…will be aptly rewarded.” – Focus Magazine
“Philip Trager is a master of form…He is a sculptor on paper, using light as his tool…classical statues capturing the timeless beauty of dance…Trager’s images are full of dramatic chiaroscuro...objects of architectural beauty.” – Black & White Magazine
“Five brief but dense essays and an interview highlight key points in [Trager’s] artistic philosophy and career…emotional and visceral…The link between architecture in Connecticut, northern Italy, New York, and Paris and postmodern dance outdoors was form, light, and texture…Recommended.” – Choice (American Library Association)
FACES
“…striking study in artifice and sheer personality…wonderfully expressive...studies that convey great emotion…it invites countless return perusals, for there are as many moods contained in these images as there are clouds in the sky, it seems…” – E-Photo Newsletter #101 (iphotocentral.com)
“…These are photographic sculptures chiseled with costume makeup, textured cloth, and Trager’s use of angle and light. They are haunting…startling in their theatrical composition…[The] presentation allows the reader to concentrate on each image as a single work of art….” – LibraryJournal.com
“I’m haunted by the extraordinary black and white portraits captured by famed photographer Philip Trager in his newest book, ‘Faces’ (Steidl). Directors of short films would do well to take a look for inspiration…” – FoxLife
Changing Paris: A Tour Along the Seine
Special Mention: Publisher's Weekly; Book Award: The Maine Photographic Workshops
"...your next trip to the capital will be different...fabulous...a lesson in architecture and art history and an opportunity to once again find the art and elegance of your beloved Paris..." – France Amerique, International Edition of Figaro
"His perfectly composed, richly printed views of Paris have sober, self-effacing clarity; but they are animated too, by subtly romantic or dreamy feelings..." – The New York Times
"…64 attractive black-and-white plates of high quality reveal the unique beauty of Paris...an outstanding document of Paris..." – Library Journal
"virtuoso use of the view camera...the cumulative effect (is) one of harmony and light that is quintessentially French in its rationality...making large format photographs in Paris--venturing into the belly of the beast, as it were--requires a sure hand...nothing less than an exemplary essay on the nature of things French." – The Photo Review
"...Beautifully seen and lushly printed love poem to the City of Light...meticulous style and unerring visual taste...include(s) both old and new with remarkable success." – The Washington Post
Dancers
Annual Best Books: Vanity Fair, Newsweek, New York Magazine, The Times (London), British Vogue, Los Angeles Times Book Review, The Wall Street Journal; Annual Holiday Issue: New York Times Book Review; Book Award: The Maine Photographic Workshops
“Dance fans, photography buffs, art lovers, and fine book collectors will savor Dancers…The considerable talents of architectural photographer Trager…succeed in making ‘dancing look like dancing again, sharp and strange’.” – Library Journal
“…This collection of startling black-and-white museum pieces…besieges the eye with its bold sense of mystery, contradiction and surprise…provocative…His images, his very aesthetic, linger powerfully in the mind.” – Los Angeles Times Book Review
“…we get a sense of his flight, maybe even a stronger sense of it than if we saw it on a stage…These are dancers as we never see them.” – Dance Ink
“Renowned photographer Trager has contributed one of the more arresting collections in several years…Monochrome has never seemed so eloquent…” – San Francisco Examiner
“If architecture is frozen music, dance must be fluid architecture. So it’s fitting that Philip Trager should have taken the eye that has made him a great architectural photographer and trained it upon the evanescent structures of modern dance. The results are haunting, and strangely moving.” – Owen Edwards
The Villas of Palladio
Annual Holiday Issue: The New York Times Book Review; Annual Best Books: Interview, Reader's Catalogue, Connoisseur; Winter Book Selection: Art in America; The Magazine Antiques; Book Award: The Maine Photographic Workshop
"On the strength of this book and a very few others, Philip Trager has emerged as our best architectural photographer...Each print makes its subject a work of art..." – The Magazine Antiques
"...significant...helps us see Palladio with a fresh and new vision...among the most impressive large-format architecture books to be published in many years." – Paul Goldberger, The New York Times Book Review
"A subtle combination of restraint and passion...Trager's camera...shows us Palladio...as he has never been seen before..." – Connoisseur
"Philip Trager's black-and-white photographs of Palladio's villas...have been quite properly acclaimed. Their justice to history, sense of place, refinement in perceiving theme and detail are beyond reproach...exhilarating photographs..." – House & Garden
"[Palladio’s] works have been published and republished through the years—but never quite so lovingly as in this book of black-and-white photographs…[Trager’s] ruminative pictures set each viewer free to find his own Palladio." – The Washington Post
"…a photographer’s personal vision…quite remarkable…Trager elevates the conventional architectural photograph into an evocative statement." – The Boston Globe
"...at a moment when we feel comfortable with what has already been written, photographed, and drawn of Palladio's work, we are given a further gift--the extraordinary eye and vision of Philip Trager...[He] has revealed to us a quality in Palladio's work which perhaps none of us has seen before." – Michael Graves, from the Introduction
"A masterful photographer...he lets us see what the sixteenth-century traveler would have seen…He has placed (the villas) in a timeless dimension…by narrating Palladio's work with penetrating intelligence..." – Renato Cevese, from the Forward
Philip Trager: New York
Annual Holiday Books Selection: The New York Times Book Review
"After viewing...Philip Trager: New York, it seems difficult to behold the city without a newly-discovered sense of awe and appreciation...the eye of an artist and the skill of a master technician...elegant and classical...as if we are seeing this unsurpassed architectural feast...for the first time, and it is overwhelming…." – Camera 35
"...a series of striking patterns...romantic, lyrical images...complex interplays of formal patterns...the personality with which Trager shows each building derives from his own emotional response to it...distinctly personal vision." – Art in America
"...successful alchemy is rare, but...not impossible, as is evident in the work of Philip Trager...the skill and imagination to make the city look as he wished to see it...a sensuous interplay of light, volume and space...His is a lovely city to behold, to wish for..." – American Photographer
"...a keen eye and a sensitive mind... mysterious..." – The New York Times
"...substantial book...elegant and eloquent...reminiscent of paintings by Edward Hopper...concentrates on form, scale and light, and in so doing captures a special view of Manhattan." – The International Museum of Photography
"...he lavishes a loving and knowledgeable eye on the nuances of architectural structure...the Guggenheim Museum...caressed by his camera with the devotion of a lover...So great is his passion for the buildings of Manhattan that he even finds something to love in some burned-out, windowless slums." – The New York Times Book Review
"...momentous...sense of massive visual intensity solidifies as you move through the pages...Trager, the iconoclast, signs off with a declaration of his personal and photographic individuality." – Views
"...powerful from an aesthetic point of view...transfigured views...timeless..." – Printletter
Photographs of Architecture
Annual Holiday Issue: The New York Times Book Review; A "Book of the Year": American Institute of Graphic Arts, 1977; One of the "Twenty-Five Best Books of the Year": Association of the American University Presses, 1977; Finalist for the Grand Prix Award at the International Festival of Photography, Arles, France, 1977
"The most handsome pictorial book published so far this year...These photographs are commanding in their clarity and reserve...At the same time, each suggests a novel...There are publishing 'events' and then there are real publishing events. The latter…reinvigorating by their physical beauty and fidelity, the caring and surprise they show and stimulate--should be celebrated…" – Eliot Fremont-Smith, The Village Voice
"...a kind of time-defiant attitude…they all appear ageless as if they were the undisputed symbols of a time...Once we have seen it Mr. Trager's way, it would be difficult to reject his prejudices and see it another way." – The New York Times
"...a handsome book that provides a precisionist view of American architecture...superbly reproduced...this is one of the season's more sumptuous photographic albums." – The New York Times Book Review
"As life is sometimes said to imitate art, the architecture here seems built especially for these photographs...images of pure structure...a geometry, sharp, perfect, inevitable..." – The Print Collector's Newsletter
"A stunning Collection...Trager's photographs are alternately witty and elegant...a way of looking at buildings that is both intensely personal and respectful of architecture's strong associative powers." – Library Journal
"Trager’s approach to architecture is distinctive…a totally visual experience of an architectural nature without extraneous information…compelling and reassuring…" – Artweek
Birdsong
“This is a book about a private garden…that I believe any designer would like to visit…perhaps this book will persuade the owners to at least permit professionals to see it on occasion…a garden that would one day be well worth a visit.” – Garden Design Online