Autophoto

The camera’s romance with the car: a photo history

Autophoto explores photography's longstanding and generative relationship to the automobile. Since its invention, the automobile has reshaped our landscape, extended our geographic horizons and radically altered our conception of space and time, influencing the practice of photographers worldwide.

The book shows how the car provided photographers with new subject matter and a new way of exploring the world. It brings together 500 works made by 100 historical and contemporary artists from around the world, including Robert Adams, Brassaï, Edward Burtynsky, Langdon Clay, John Divola, Robert Doisneau, William Eggleston, Elliott Erwitt, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Anthony Hernandez, Yasuhiro Ishimoto, Jacques Henri Lartigue, Joel Meyerowitz, Daido Moriyama, Catherine Opie, Martin Parr, Rosângela Rennó, Ed Ruscha, Hans-Christian Schink, Malick Sidibé, Stephen Shore and Henry Wessel.

Capturing formal qualities such as the geometric design of roadways or reflections in a rear view mirror, these photographers invite us to look at the world of the automobile in a new way. Autophoto also includes other projects, such as a series of car models that cast a fresh eye on the history of automobile design, created specifically for the Fondation Cartier show by French artist Alain Bublex, plus a comparative history of automobile design and photography, essays by scholars and quotes by participating artists.