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African Queens

Simple, sensual portraits of dark-skinned beauties

"Poets have described the beauty of African women with their words,
Uwe Ommer with his camera."Photo Presse, Germany

Uwe Ommer, a sought-after commercial photographer based in New York and Paris, has made a name for himself with his own uncommissioned works, as this book eloquently attests. For the aesthete Uwe Ommer, the bodies of black women represent the epitome of beauty. His photographs are exactly what they show, no more and no less than a homage to female beauty. And of course that homage is paid in the perfect setting, the stunning landscape of Africa.
Calixthe Beyala, born in Cameroon, is one of the leading African francophone poets. The texts in this book were written especially as a commentary on the photography of Uwe Ommer.

The photographer:
Uwe Ommer became fascinated with photography at a young age and in 1962 moved to Paris, where he initially worked as a photographer’s assistant. Within a few years, he opened his own photography studio, primarily shooting fashion and advertising photos. Quickly gaining respect for his work in Paris, Ommer began showing in local galleries and eventually published his first book, Photoedition Uwe Ommer, in 1979, a collection of personal and advertising works. In the following years, he would publish five more books of his photographs. In 2002, Uwe Ommer was awarded an Honorary Fellowship to the Royal Photographic Society for the impact of his lifetime of work. His books for TASCHEN include Black Ladies, Asian Ladies, Transit, and 1000 Families.

Back in 1974, the sexual revolution was in full swing and the adult entertainment business was on the verge of becoming Big Business. Deep Throat had created America’s first porn star in 1972, but by 1974 Linda Lovelace was already retired and the industry was seeking the next big thing. Vanessa del Rio should have been that thing, except in 1974 there were no ethnic sex stars. Undeterred, Vanessa took any role they’d give her, because, amazingly, she was there for the sex more than the money. Fans, awed by her ferocious onscreen sexuality, made her a top box office draw and America’s first Latina star. Retired since 1986, Vanessa del Rio remains a sexual icon who cuts across all ethnic boundaries.

What her fans don’t know is that her real life was, and is, as wild as anything she did on film.

In this sumptuous over-sized volume, TASCHEN celebrates a remarkably candid, confident and exuberantly sexual woman. Presented through Vanessa’s own archive, in her own words, is a life at once shocking, titillating, amusing, and inspiring. And because paper and ink can’t do justice to a personality this big, an original 140 minute DVD documentary is included. If you aren’t already convinced, this book will end all doubt that there could ever be another woman like Vanessa del Rio.

Von Edward Steichen und Cecil Beaton bis Annie Leibovitz und Mario Testino - Vanity Fair Portraits feiert 95 Jahre Photogeschichte, mit Klassikern der Portraitkunst, die von Vanity Fair in Auftrag gegeben und veröffentlicht wurden. Diese Portraits wurden zu Ikonen der bekanntesten Figuren aus Film, Musik, Sport, Wirtschaft und Politik. Vanity Fair Portraits ist eine Kulturgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts und ihrer führenden Persönlichkeiten. Leitfaden sind die Seiten des Magazins, das die Moderne mit eingeleitet hat und zu einer festen Größe des Lebens im 20. Jahrhunderts geworden ist. Dieser Band versammelt über 300 Photographien aus beiden Epochen des Erscheinens von Vanity Fair und bietet ein Feuerwerk an Prominenz, Talent und Glamour. In der ersten Ära - 1913 bis 1936 - dominieren Figuren aus dem Zeitalter des Jazz und Stars wie Pablo Picasso, Amelia Earhart, Cary Grant und Katharine Hepburn. Die zweite Ära - von der Neugründung 1983 bis heute - bringt Hollywood-Stars, Schriftsteller, Sportler, Stilikonen und große Namen aus Wirtschaft und Politik, mit Portraits von Robert de Niro, Arthur Miller, Madonna, Margaret Thatcher, Rupert Murdoch und vielen anderen. Vanity Fair Portraits bündelt wie ein Brennglas die Energie des Magazins, das mit dem Versprechen antrat, »eine Dinner- Party auf fünfzig Meter in Brand zu setzen« und zeigt, warum es zur wichtigsten Plattform für photographische Ikonographie geworden ist.

I bike, therefore I am.

Riding a bike is easy. Once someone can do it, they will never forget how. Riding a bike can be addictive — in the best cases for life. Understanding the subtleties of contemporary bicycle culture can be challenging. Like it or not, choosing to ride a particular bike — whether an old-fashioned city bicycle, a high-tech machine, a mountain bike, a touring bike, a fixie, or a beach cruiser — means being associated with a certain lifestyle.

Velo — 2nd Gear explores these diverse bicycle scenes and reveals their histories, relationships, and insightful details. Alongside its presentation of especially attractive and unusual bicycles, the book documents how riders’ accessories and styles vary just as widely as the bikes’ tires and other equipment. It explains how each scene cultivates its own distinct codes through the choice of certain jerseys, caps, or bags or by visiting specific events or key establishments.

The examples in Velo — 2nd Gear span the globe. Tours in traditional costumes and on historical paths in Belgium or Italy are not only appealing as athletic challenges, but also as adventures for cosmopolitan travelers. In urban centers at night, bicycle messengers hold races on city streets. Specialized bike boutiques focus on details such as customized paint jobs. Frame builders in Oregon, Paris, or southern Germany create highly coveted bikes tailored to individuals or in very limited editions with long waiting lists.

Velo — 2nd Gear makes abundantly clear that contemporary bicycle culture is more alive and well than ever before. The book celebrates its healthy, environmentally-friendly, discerning, and slightly obsessive scenes and their protagonists. It shows why, for a young generation, bicycles have now replaced cars as the vehicles that best express their identity.

These moody, monochrome landscapes speak of an Italy far removed from the familiar, tourist images. Mostly ‘empty’ – without people – they highlight the intrinsic beauty of Venice itself, and capture the timelessness of the city throughout the centuries.

Juxtaposing black and white photographs of traditional, theatrical Venice with images of the city’s industrial area, Marghera, this is a hauntingly beautiful and utterly original take on one of the world’s most photographed cities.

These portraits of New Yorkers are remarkable for their diversity, but also for the common humanity that binds them all. Photographer Horst Hamann asked New Yorkers - an adventurous but generally skeptical bunch - to come off the street and be photographed with their eyes closed. The resulting work is a profile of human characteristics and emotions. We see anxiety in some photographs, and bravura in others. Because their eyes are closed - as if dreaming - we somehow get closer to their true nature, and by extension, to our own.

Horst Hamann has become famous during the last twenty years for his panoramic photography. His internationally
acclaimed and widely exhibited photographs of New York and Paris have been published by teNeues in the best-selling New York Vertical and Paris Vertical. Born in Germany, he is now based in New York.

75 duotone photographs

The entire story of jazz from its earliest days in New Orleans to the 1970s and beyond told through archival material from Verve, the genres most important label.

Verve signed practically every major jazz artist of the 1950s and 1960s and is home to some of the greatest music ever recorded. Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, and Ella Fitzgerald all released records through Verve. This superb new volume presents some of the rarest records and unseen ephemera from the label that helped define the world of jazz. Hundreds of the best examples of iconic seven-inch, ten-inch, and twelve-inch records appear, along with publicity reports, news clippings, posters, telegrams, and programmes.

The ultimate music guide, the book includes features on key artists and key albums as well as insightful timelines that connect Verve with wider musical history. Looking beyond the music scene, the book discusses segregation in America, the missions to take jazz to Europe and the world, the clubs, the places, and the people who made Verve great and jazz cool.

Commentary from the biggest names in jazz today, including some of Verves own artists, complements the text. 1,200 illustrations in color and black and white.

City of Dreams. A visual journey through Vienna’s dazzling history

Explore a city of architectural splendor, ubiquitous history, and incomparable heritage of art, design, and music. This collection brings together hundreds of photographs from the last 175 years to trace the history of Vienna; from imperial city to modern metropolis, from major landmarks to tucked-away treasures, and from the flowering of the fin de siècle to the Cold War.

Vienna combines drama and elegance like no other. For centuries the heart of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the stately city on the Danube, has been defined by vast palaces and imperial grandeur—but behind the Baroque opulence, Vienna is also a place of genteel coffee house culture, epicurean tradition, and a heritage of both delicate and daring music, art, and design, from Johann Strauss to Egon Schiele, from Gustav Mahler to Josef Hoffmann.

This volume is a treasure trove of photography from the last 175 years, following the evolution of Vienna from imperial capital to modern metropolis. Like a visual walk through time and cityscape, hundreds of carefully curated pictures trace the developments in Vienna’s built environment and the cultural and historical trends they reflect, whether the urban Gesamtkunstwerk of the 19th-century Ringstrasse or the experiments of “Red Vienna” in the 1920s, when the city had a social democrat government for the first time.

Through these remarkable photographs, we discover not only the great landmarks and lesser-known corners of Vienna, but also the ubiquity and the tumult of its history. We see the cultural blossoming of the fin de siècle, when radical innovators such as Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Adolf Loos, and Sigmund Freud turned Vienna into a “laboratory of modernity”; the clashes of 1934; the ascent of Nazi dictatorship; and the horrors writ by the Holocaust in what was once one of the most populous and multi-ethnic cities on earth. More recently, fascinating postwar photographs explore the Vienna of the Third Man, at once a city in ruins and a hub for spies. The book closes with the most recent pictures, celebrating the emergence of today’s Vienna — one of the most attractive cities in Europe, in which rich history once again coexists with international flair and vibrant contemporary culture.

The authors:

Christian Brandstätter, born 1943, founded Brandstätter Verlag in 1982. He is the author and designer of numerous illustrated books, including groundbreaking publications on Vienna around 1900, including Gustav Klimt und die Frauen (1994), Design der Wiener Werkstätte (2003), and Wien 1900: Kunst Design Architektur Mode (2018), as well as on Austrian photographic history.

Andreas J. Hirsch, born 1961 in Vienna, is an author, curator and artistic photographer. His writings include books on Pablo Picasso, Tina Modotti, Friedensreich Hundertwasser and H.R. Giger. From 2009 to 2014, he was curator at the KunstHausWien and organized exhibitions on Henri Cartier-Bresson, Linda McCartney and H.R. Giger, among others.

Hans-Michael Koetzle, born 1953, is a Munich-based freelance author and journalist, focusing mainly on history and the aesthetics of photography. He has published numerous books on photography, including Die Zeitschrift twen (1995), Photo Icons (2001), Das Lexikon der Fotografen (2002), René Burri (2004), Photographers A-Z (2011) and Dr. Paul Wolff & Tritschler (2019).

An ode to beauty — Vincent Peters’s best black-and-white photographs presented for the first time in a compact, affordable book 

Vincent Peters, born in Bremen, Germany, in 1969, is one of today’s most active fashion photographers. At age of 20, he moved to New York, where he worked as a photo assistant. Upon his return to Europe, he worked for a number of art galleries before launching his own fashion photography career at Giovanni Testino. Peters’s clients include Wolfgang Joop, Bottega Veneta, Louis Vuitton, Hugo Boss, Emporio Armani, and Lancôme.

Over the last quarter-century, Vincent Peters’s photographs have graced the pages of Vogue, Glamour, and GQ and defined fashion campaigns from Dior to Hugo Boss to Yves Saint Laurent. One of the most sought-after portrait and fashion photographers, Vincent Peters prints also have a significant following in the fine art market. 

Vincent Peters’s photographs are defined by their precision, love of detail, and an exquisite lighting that lifts his images beyond fast-moving trends into something timeless and iconic. With an aesthetic reminiscent of Jeanloup Sieff or Herb Ritts, Peters manages to capture even the most photographed of faces — whether Scarlett Johansson, Monica Bellucci, or Penélope Cruz — with previously unseen nuance, creating a new sense of intimacy with each subject. 

Featuring Charlize Theron, Laetitia Casta, John Malkovich, and Emma Watson

About the Author:

Vincent Peters’s work has already appeared in The Light Between Us and Personal. Now, in parallel with the major Vincent Peters solo show at Fotografiska in Stockholm, this compact and affordable Vincent Peters photo book presents a selection of his best black-and-white images, including portraits of Charlize Theron, John Malkovich, Laetitia Casta, and Emma Watson. It’s a vivid overview of a photographic artist who is always evolving while remaining true to his principles. 

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Посмотреть полноформатное издание Vincent Peters: Selected Works: The Collector's Edition

This book, the timeless vintage portfolio shows Dita von Teese between 1996 to 2004, whose rise to celebrity status was just a heartbeat away. Today, Dita is a style icon and admired by countless women everywhere. She regularly models for the big fashion houses and has a permanent place at the Paris catwalks. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the Oscar Awards Ceremony or the Opera Ball, it’s not the same if Dita isn’t there.

This book reveals a side to Dita that is well known to the public, i.e. her fetish for corsets (she has more than 100 tailor-made ones), her fetish for shoes (“I never leave home without my high heels on”), as well as other fetishes such as bondage and latex. Dita von Teese has created a style of classic proportions, and she is certainly in a class of her own.

Photographer Peter W. Czernich: „A woman in latex is like a sculpture, she should be perfectly lit and her beauty displayed for all to see and enjoy.” Czernich is also editor of leading fetish magazine „Marquis“.

A delightful collection of vintage and antique postcards of New York. This book presents a rare collection of more than 100 of the best vintage New York City postcards, providing a snapshot of how much the Big Apple has changed — and how much has remained recognizably the same. 

During the early years of the twentieth century, postcard photographers traveled the length and breadth of Manhattan snapping images and documenting landmarks and important new architectural masterpieces, such as the Singer Building (1908), the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower (1909), and the Woolworth Building (1913) — each of which succeeded the other as the world’s tallest building at the time of their respective completion. 

Also celebrated were the engineering feats of the Brooklyn Bridge and the elevated trains and early subway, as well as popular amusements such as the original Madison Square Garden and the Hippodrome, which occupied an entire city block at Longacre Square—since renamed Times Square. Scenic views of the city from a distance were equally popular — and in fact led to the coining of the word "skyline" in 1896. 

This charming keepsake volume is the perfect souvenir for architecture and history buffs and makes a wonderful gift.

About the Authors

Silvia and Stefano Lucchini are collectors based in Milan and New York whose unsurpassed collection of antique postcards inspired this book. Alyce Aldige currently resides in Milan, where she works as a writer, translator, and English teacher.

Showcasing twenty-five years of iconic art, fashion, and design content from renowned New York–based publication Visionaire.

A publishing experiment that began in 1991, Visionaire has taken the shape of everything from a leather-bound portfolio to 12-inch vinyl records to a collection of dolls. With intimate reflections by contributors, a prized collection of nearly 450 images selected from sixty-five issues produced by an astounding cast of artists, photographers, and designers, this book delivers a rich panorama of two decades of media and fashion revolution from the perspective of independent publishing. Original commentary by cofounders Cecilia Dean and James Kaliardos provides unprecedented access to a pivotal New York scene and the creative life behind Visionaire as it shaped the fashion zeitgeist, propelling emerging voices and exceptional content while challenging the limits of print media. This volume is an essential piece of contemporary fashion and media history that traces the shape of things to come. 

Visionaire contributors include photographers Bruce Weber, Inez & Vinoodh, Mario Sorrenti, Mert and Marcus, Steven Klein, and Steven Meisel; artists Alex Katz, John Baldessari, KAWS, Marina Abramovic, and Yoko Ono; designers Karl Lagerfeld, Rei Kawakubo, and Riccardo Tisci; pop icons Bjork, David Bowie, Kate Moss, Lady Gaga, and Miley Cyrus; and many more. Art and fashion connoisseurs and anyone interested in media, design, and culture will find this landmark volume indispensable.

About the Authors:

Cecilia Dean and James Kaliardos are the co-founders of Visionaire and VisionaireFILM. Pierre Alexandre de Looz is an architect and writer.

Visual Feast reveals a world where food is both an art medium and an edible eccentricity.

We eat with our eyes. People love to stage and take photos of their food. Driven by Instagram and the advertising industry, stylists, gourmandizers, and photographers continually invent new ways of presenting food as both delectable and radical. Visual Feast presents work nonpareil from this growing scene.

Sharing photos of food has become entrenched in our daily lives. Visual Feast celebrates the interplay between a myriad of styles: maps created from vegetables, lobsters painted gold to adorn tables, jelly molded into witty dishes.  These images can be readily found on social media, in magazine editorials, or transformed into infographics.

Food photographers and stylists create innovative images that make mouths water, eyes widen, and nostrils inhale imagined scents. Quenching creative curiosities and satisfying even the keenest of artistic palettes, Visual Feast explores food staging and exists as a tome of inspiration for those immersed and intrigued by its yummy and alluring realm.

For years, Ron Galella, “the godfather of U.S. paparazzi culture,” has provided the world a glimpse into the off-limits world of celebrity. With Viva l’Italia!, a deeper and more probing Galella emerges. He sets out to find his own Italian roots, and in so doing, takes us on viaggio as he combs his vast archive for images of Italian and Italian-American actors, artists, and fashion designers, along with a wide range of other cultural icons.

Galella’s tour begins in Rome’s famed Cinecittà where Federico Fellini relaxes between takes on a film set. It was Fellini who proclaimed, “paparazzi are bandits of images,” coining the word with his character Señor Paparazzo in La Dolce Vita. As he continues on, Galella presents us with rare portraits of Italy’s most famous sons and daughters, including Isabella Rossellini, Silvana Mangano, Marlon Brando, Monica Bellucci, Carla Bruni, and Sophia Loren. Never one to shy away from bad boys, he even includes the “Dapper Don,” John Gotti, emerging from federal court in Manhattan.

The appeal and power of Galella’s beautiful photography is complimented by extemporaneous quotes he has amassed over a half-century of travel and celebrity encounters. “You look Italian,” quipped Anna Magnani as Ron captured her in Rome, during the filming of The Secret of Santa Vittoria, with Virna Lisi and Anthony Quinn.

Some crossed the ocean, some changed their names, some were born in disparate locations as with Dean Martin of Steubenville, Ohio, and Frank Sinatra of Hoboken, New Jersey; but they all brought with them passion born of Italy - love of cinema, music, art, and fashion - as Galella triumphantly proclaims with Viva l’Italia!