Epic Train Journeys

40 years of era-defining photography, now in an accessible edition When Benedikt Taschen asked the most important portrait photographer working today, Annie Leibovitz, to collect her pictures in a SUMO-sized book, she was intrigued by the challenge. The project took several years to develop and when it was finally published in 2014, it weighed in at 26 kg (57 pounds). This incredible collection is now available in an accessible XXL book format. Leibovitz drew on more than 40 years of work, starting with the photojournalism she did for Rolling Stone magazine in the 1970s through the conceptual portraits she made for Vanity Fair and Vogue. She selected iconic images—such as John Lennon and Yoko Ono entwined in a last embrace—as well as portraits that had rarely, if ever, been seen before. The Annie Leibovitz SUMO covered political and cultural history, from Queen Elizabeth II and Richard Nixon to Laurie Anderson and Lady Gaga. “What I had thought of initially as a simple process of imagining what looked good big, what photographs would work in a large format, became something else,” Leibovitz says. “The book is very personal, but the narrative is told through popular culture. It’s not arranged chronologically and it’s not a retrospective. It’s more like a roller coaster.” Fans of Leibovitz and her many celebrated subjects can now enjoy that same roller coaster ride for themselves with this unlimited edition.

Wyjątkowo oryginalny myśliciel z wyboru, obywatel świata z konieczności: Vilém Flusser (1920–1991). Urodził się w Pradze jako czeski Żyd, w 1939 roku musiał emigrować i trafił aż do Sao Paulo. Tam też w latach 60. XX wieku zaczął późną karierę akademicką, a od lat 70. wykładał w Europie, do której powrócił i gdzie zginął w wypadku samochodowym, jak na ironię w ojczystych Czechach. Był filozofem komunikacji, zajmował się mediami, a książeczka o fotografii (1983) przysporzyła mu światowej sławy. Jego namysł nad epoką postindustrialną i „postalfabetyczną”, ciekawe systematyzacje dziejów człowieka i cywilizacji są bardzo aktualne – i ich aktualności wystarczy zapewne jeszcze na długo. Flusser stara się odpowiedzieć na nasze niepokoje o kulturę w czasach zagrożenia pisma przez obraz, przynosząc nam tym, trzeba przyznać, niejaką pociechę. W myśl jego koncepcji jesteśmy skazani na pośredniczącą rolę komunikacji, której kluczowym narzędziem jest specyficznie pojęty „aparat” – fotograficzny w szczegolności. Filozoficzne ujęcie natury fotografii ma nam pozwolić na zrozumienie, co się dzieje z naszą cywilizacją w ogóle – zrozumienie, że po „alfabetyzacji” obrazu, która nastąpiła wraz z wynalezieniem pisma, obecnie, poprzez „obraz techniczny” w rodzaju fotografii, filmu, wideo, trwa proces „uobrazowiania” tekstu, ale obrazem na innym poziomie niż uprzedni, przedalfabetyczny obraz.

While the female nude has long played a conspicuous role in western iconography, the male nude has not always enjoyed such attention, or acceptance. This ode to the male physique celebrates the evolving, at one time illicit, art form from anonymous 19th century erotica through to contemporary work from David Hockney and Duane Michaels.

Through the classic, the playful, and the provocative, it explores the compositions, postures, and role-playing of this often under-explored genre. Esteemed masters such as Herbert List, George Platt Lynes or Robert Mapplethorpe are all there, alongside Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden, famed for his homoerotic images of nude youths in classical postures in Sicily. Further highlights include illustrations from Physique Pictorial, the leading organ of the mid-50s gay scene and a pioneer in gay publishing.

How do we see the world around us? The Penguin on Design series includes the works of creative thinkers whose writings on art, design and the media have changed our vision forever.

Susan Sontag’s groundbreaking critique of photography asks forceful questions about the moral and aesthetic issues surrounding this art form. Photographs are everywhere. They have the power to shock, idealize or seduce, they create a sense of nostalgia and act as a memorial, and they can be used as evidence against us or to identify us. In six incisive essays, Sontag examines the ways in which we use these omnipresent images to manufacture a sense of reality and authority in our lives.

A personal portrait of Paul McCartney by Harry Benson
Harry Benson began photographing Paul McCartney in 1964, when the Beatles took America by storm, toured the world, and made their movie debut with A Hard Day’s Night. The legendary photojournalist was on hand to document it all. When the Fab Four came to an end, it was Benson who had intimate access to Paul and his wife Linda, as Paul forged a new path, creatively and personally.

Featuring more than 100 color and black-and-white images, this collection is a window into the life of one of the world’s best-known recording artists, one who has remained enigmatic despite a lifetime in the limelight.

Through Benson’s lens, Paul traces the evolution of its namesake from performer to icon, father and husband. We see the young musician at the height of his fame with the Beatles, in the recording studio with Linda and their band Wings, with the family, behind the scenes and on stage during the 1975–76 “Wings Over America” tour, partying with the stars, and at the couple’s quiet farm in the UK in the early 1990s.

On the occasion of Sir Paul's 80th birthday, Paul gives an all-access look at a life spent making the world’s most popular music. A must for any music fan.

Sebastião Salgado traveled the Brazilian Amazon and photographed the unparalleled beauty of this extraordinary region for six years: the forest, the rivers, the mountains, the people who live there—an irreplaceable treasure of humanity. The boxed postcard set features 25 individual images showcasing the breadth and beauty of Salgado’s project.