Sight Readings - Photographers and American Jazz, 1900-60

A revelatory look at the photography that shaped the American Jazz Age.

In this book, Alan John Ainsworth considers the work of a range of American jazz photographers from the turn of the twentieth century through the Jazz Age and into the 1960s. Drawing on extensive archival research, Ainsworth examines jazz as a visual subject, explores its attraction to different types of photographers, and analyzes why and how they approached the subject in the ways they did.

While some of the photographers are widely recognized today, the volume also explores lesser-known figures of the period--including African American photojournalists, studio photographers, early-twentieth-century emigres, and Jewish exiles of the 1930s--whose contributions are often overlooked. Informed by ideas from contemporary photographic theory and with a foreword by Darius Brubeck, Sight Readings is a wide-ranging, eye-opening new look at twentieth-century jazz photography and the people behind it.

About the author

Alan John Ainsworth is an independent scholar based in Edinburgh. He researches and writes on jazz, jazz photography, the history of photography, architecture, and design.

Product details

• Authors: Alan Ainsworth, Alan John Ainsworth
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 28.02.2022
• EAN: 9781789384215
• ISBN: 978-1-78938-421-5
• Illustrations: 135 halftones, Raster, duotone
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Music > General, dictionaries; Jazz, USA, Photography & photographs, 20th Century, PHOTOGRAPHY / Individual Photographers / General, Social & cultural history, MUSIC / Genres & Styles / Jazz, PHOTOGRAPHY / History, PHOTOGRAPHY / Photojournalism, PHOTOGRAPHY / Criticism, Social and cultural history, United States of America, USA, Early 20th century c 1900 to c 1950, Music: styles and genres, Photography and photographs, HISTORY / African American & Black, ART / American / African American & Black