FOREVER, ELIZABETH by Robert Risko (ACC £45, 252 pp)
FOREVER ELIZABETH
by Robert Risko (ACC £45, 252 pp)
This is a huge and luxurious book full of photographs of Elizabeth Taylor in her prime — and one has to say, what a prime it was.
Eight photographers, including Norman Parkinson and Terry O’Neill, contribute pictures —some never before seen — and comment on how wonderful, marvellous, enigmatic and professional she was.
But it’s the images that count. She had the ability to look luminous even when she didn’t know someone was taking her picture. Half a century after her death, the look of love she has for Richard Burton is still evocative.
I know what gift I’ll be buying my mother . . .
BRITAIN AT WAR IN COLOUR
BRITAIN AT WAR IN COLOUR by Ian Carter (Imperial War Museum £25, 240 pp)
by Ian Carter (Imperial War Museum £25, 240 pp)
These stunning photos from World War II were sourced from Imperial War Museum archives. They aren’t colourized black-and-white images, as I believed, but actual colour photographs taken using Kodachrome 35 mm stock. This was introduced in 1935. There’s an immediacy to these snaps that catches the eye and moves the heart, especially as you realise that most of the people in these photos are long since dead. The photos are visually captivating and fascinating.
THE HUMAN ELEMENT
THE HUMAN ELEMENT by James Balog (Rizzoli £60, 456 pp)
by James Balog (Rizzoli £60, 456 pp)
The book, which is essential and extremely important, focuses on climate change’s effects on natural habitats.
Balog’s photographs range from shots of flowing lava to power stations issuing vast plumes of smoke, from flooded streets to burning forests and some amazing endangered species.
One would never have thought such beauty could come from destruction.
JUNGLE SPIRITS
JUNGLE SPIRITS by Christian Ziegler and Daisy Dent (teNeues £35, 240 pp)
by Christian Ziegler and Daisy Dent (teNeues £35, 240 pp)
While there are many books of wildlife photography available, I’ve never seen any that made all of its animals or plants appear alien-like.
Christian Ziegler has a very particular eye, and whether he’s shooting ants eating a millipede or a group of bats that look as though they could happily eat us, he always chooses the odd and disturbing image over the obvious.
Daisy Dent’s accompanying text is full of good stuff. Did you know that bats have nipples between their elbows? Did you know that beetles can shoot gas from their anuses to defeat their foes?
Ziegler and Dent are. I bet they’re a wow at dinner parties.
A PORTRAIT DU TREE
A PORTRAIT OF THE TREE by Adrian Houston (Greenfinch £30, 304 pp)
by Adrian Houston (Greenfinch £30, 304 pp)
The essence of this book is tree porn at its purest.
If your idea of fun on a winter’s afternoon is to go to the local park and stare at trees, which is what I am going to do in a minute, then this is very much the volume for you.
Houston has captured coniferous trees and deciduous ones in their full glory, as well as trees in flower, older trees, new trees, and incalculably historic trees. Houston’s photographs are superbly documented. The book also contains oodles of intriguing facts.
MARILYN & ME by Lawrence Schiller (Taschen £50, 200 pp)
MARILYN & ME
by Lawrence Schiller (Taschen £50, 200 pp)
Marilyn Monroe met Lawrence Schiller when he was 25, a young photojournalist at Paris Match magazine. He took hundreds of photographs of Marilyn Monroe over the following weeks, including some very formal and some totally opportunistic. About 100 are here, along with detailed notes from Schiller.
It’s a blissful book, a portrait of a vanished era, and Marilyn can rock a blue bathrobe like no one in history. ‘Marilyn was a photographer’s dream with her clothes on,’ writes Schiller, ‘and even more stunning with them off.’ You won’t get any disagreement from me on that score.
FREE: A LIFE IN IMAGES AND WORDS
By Sergei Polunin (teNeues £45, 272 pp)
FREE: A LIFE IN IMAGES AND WORDS By Sergei Polunin (teNeues £45, 272 pp)
Polunin, a British-trained, Ukrainian-born ballet dancer, is not a name I’ve heard of before. He’s a handsome man with rare talent and an extraordinary devotion.
It is both an autobiography and a photo book. The words are rarely more than necessary, but the photos can be spellbindingly beautiful. It’s usually only sportsmen who write autobiographies this early on in their lives (Polunin is 32), but this book is aimed at serious ballet fans and anyone keen on muscular young men jumping ridiculously high in the air. This book also shows the extent to which Polunin’s kit is lost. It seems like his clothes are falling off.
Helen Mirren contributed an appreciative introduction, having experienced a similar situation in her youth.
Her Majesty: A Photographic History 1926-1926
Christopher Warwick (Taschen £50, 368 pp)
HER MAJESTY: A PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY 1926-TODAY by Christopher Warwick (Taschen £50, 368 pp)
In this lavishly appointed picture book celebrating the Queen’s reign, Christopher Warwick writes about her whole life so far. These photos include childhood photographs of Princess Elizabeth in black and white, as well as the beloved ruler of today.
While there’s nothing new to write on this very familiar subject, at least Warwick does so without recourse to the usual cliches of royal reportage.
A remarkablely thorough piece of work that is far superior to the standard run of these books.