20th Century Photography

From Ansel Adams to Piet Zwart.
The Museum Ludwig's handbook of photography in the 20th century.

"Defining images of photographic art in this century which kept me turning the 750+ pages with enthusiasm for many an hour." Photo Art International, United Kingdom

The history of photography began nearly 200 years ago, but only relatively recently has it been fully recognised as a medium in its own right. Cologne’s Museum Ludwig was the first museum of contemporary art to devote a substantial section to international photography.

The L. Fritz Gruber collection, from which this book is drawn, is one of the most important in Germany and one of the most representative anywhere in the world, constituting the core of the museum’s holdings.

This book provides a fascinating insight into the collection’s rich diversity; from conceptual art to abstraction to reportage, all of the major movements and genres are represented via a vast selection of the century’s most remarkable photographs.

From Ansel Adams to Piet Zwart, over 850 works are presented in alphabetical order by photographer, with descriptive texts and photographers’ biographical details, providing a comprehensive and indispensable overview of 20th century photography.

Edited by the Museum Ludwig Cologne.

About the Author

Steven Heller is the co-founder and co-chair of the MFA Design / Designer as Author + Entrepreneur program and co-founder of the MFA in Design Criticism and MFA in Interaction Design programs at the School of Visual Arts. For thirty-three years he was an art director at the "New York Times", and currently writes the Visuals column for the "New York Times Book Review".

He is contributing editor to "Print", "EYE", and "Baseline" magazines, and writes the popular blog "The Daily Heller". He is the author or editor of over 130 books on design and popular culture, including "Design Literacy", "Design Disasters", and "100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design". He is the recipient of the 1999 AIGA Medal for Lifetime Achievement and the 2011 Smithsonian National Design Award for "Design Mind."