Unseen

by Elliott Erwitt
Buy new: $65.00 $42.25 Buy used: $29.05

Editorial Reviews

For those already familiar with the scope and ingenuity of this photographic craftsman, this is an essential addition to your Erwitt collection. If not, you can look forward to discovering his eclecticism and expertise. Probing the limits of black-and-white photography, Erwitt's lens captures subtleties ranging from the duskiest grays to the most luminous whites. This intriguing collection of previously unpublished photographs highlights the drama in everyday moments. Its subjects range from anonymous faces in the crowd to candid glimpses of icons like John F. Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, and Truman Capote.

Customer Reviews

Mixed bag, 2008-01-17
by Tom
My main criticism about this book is about it's design -- there are no captions under pictures. Instead, the designer decided to add photo captions to the end of the book as index. So to see caption of a photo you need to open page 154, then find thumbnail-sized image of the photo you were looking at, or your photo's page number, and voila, now you can read its caption there. Repeat that for each photo in the book and you get what I mean. It is beyond me how someone can make so stupid usability mistakes, but that happens daily with many different products.

About photos. There are many very good images in best Erwitt style, but there are a few that make me think that it is a leftover, or filler. Looking up captions for these reveals that most such photos were included because the person on is a known figure. But probably it is a matter of taste, like everything else...

The book has only about 150 pages with photos, which considering my previous points makes me feel it is a bit over priced. By no means I don't think Erwitt's photos are cheap but there are some better books out there that cost the same or less. If this is your first Erwitt book I suggest to buy something else, like Snaps.

My rating: 3,5