The Imaginary Photo Museum
edited by Renate and L. Fritz Gruber
Harmony Books, 1982, 270 pages
ISBN 0-517-54797-X
The Imaginary Photo Museum was an exhibit that was produced for the 1980 Photokina photography trade fair that is held annually in Germany. The exhibit featured 457 photographs borrowed from museums and collections around the world.
The goal of this exhibit was to collect in one place the best works that had been produced throughout the entire history of photography. Such an idealistic goal can never be fully realized, of course, but the Imaginary Photo Museum was nevertheless a great success (nearly 50,000 visitors in 17 days).
This book reprints all of the photos that appeared in the exhibit, and maintains much of the exhibit's organization. There are two main sections: "Chronology" follows the historical development of photography, while "Analogy" presents images grouped into seven themes (Objects, Nudes, Landscapes, Portraits, Cities, Events, and Visions).
The majority of these images are black & white. In the exhibit, the few color photographs were placed where appropriate, but in this book all of the color photos are printed together in a third section.
The book also contains an extremely useful index to the included photographers. For each photographer there is a short biography, a list of works included in the exhibit, and references where one could learn more about that specific photographer.
Recommended.