An artist’s book in which the art is photo-based. Photographers have been collecting their pictures in books since photography was invented. The term photobook is a more recent construction, and can be defined as a book in which photographs make a significant contribution to the content, though the sequence and placement of images, their relationship to text, and the scale and materiality are also of utmost importance to the maker. Though it can be made up of preexisting individual artworks, a photobook is often intended as a cohesive artistic expression.
Works
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Magazine
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Five Artist-Publishers Who Are Changing the Photobook Landscape
MoMA’s annual celebration of photobooks returns...with a twist.Mar 27, 2024 -
Ernest Cole’s House of Bondage: A Look at Apartheid in South Africa
An image from Cole’s photobook bears witness to the hardships and injustices of life under apartheid, inspiring change and challenging the status quo.May 2, 2023 -
Our Favorite Photobooks of 2022
MoMA’s annual celebration of photobooks returns with 10 standouts.Mar 21, 2023 -
Between Sound and Citation: Zora J Murff’s True Colors
From Currier and Ives to Kanye, complex histories, sources, and experiences inform the artist’s new photobook.Mar 2, 2022 -
Our Favorite Photobooks of 2021
Find out which books made MoMA’s inaugural list.Nov 1, 2021 -
Now Is the Time to Read Photography Books
On the occasion of National Photography Month, a curator looks back at some of MoMA’s classic photo publications.May 27, 2020
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