Phaidon Chronicles Martine Franck

Phaidon has a great series of introductory monographs that they call the New-Format 55s. Each contains 55 of the most important images from a photographer’s oeuvre, arranged in chronological order with a brief description or history, preceded by an introductory essay by a notable critic or photo historian.

The subjects of these monographs vary across fields and eras—the series includes greats such as Alfred Stieglitz and Dorothea Lange along with Nan Goldin and Meyerowitz. Whether it’s someone you’re already familiar with or someone whom you're barely acquainted with, the 55s tend to give you a pretty solid overview with all the major accomplishments alongside the ups and downs of the photographer’s life.

I was glad to see that one of their latest is Martine Franck. It’s a timely release, given that there have recently been several events to commemorate Magnum Photos’ 60th Anniversary—Martine Franck was one of the first four women photographers to join the agency and is perhaps one of its most accomplished female photojournalists, and her husband, Henri Cartier-Bresson, was one of Magnum’s founding members.

Her relationship with the great photographer often obscures the fact that Franck was and is an extraordinary photographer in her own right, and the book does her justice in chronicling her successes both as a photojournalist. The book evidences her eye for design and mastery of light with such iconic photographs as Swimming Pool, as well as her compassion and intimacy as she sought out faces within obscurity, with the project “Le Temps de Viellir,” which documented the isolation and the melancholy of the elderly, or her work seeking out marginalized communities such as the Tory Islanders and Tibetan Buddhists.

Beginning with photos taken in 1965 and ending with her more recent work, from 2000, it does justice to a magnificent photographer and is also an interesting window into the living histories she sought to capture. With an introduction by journalist and arts writer Louise Baring. (Martine Franck, Phaidon, 2007; $25)
—Lori Fredrickson
Assistant Editor