The spirit of Berlin: a photographic journey into the city's history Berlin has survived two world wars, was divided by a wall during the Cold War, and after the fall of the Wall was re-united. The city emerged as a center of European power and culture. From 1860 to the present day, this book presents the story of Berlin in photographs, portraits, maps, and aerial views. With nearly 700 pages of emotional, atmospheric images, from giddy pictures of the Roaring Twenties to devastating images of war to heartwarming postwar photos of a city picking up the pieces?the Reichstag in ruins and later wrapped by Christo and Jeanne-Claude?this is the most comprehensive photographic study on Berlin ever made. More than a tribute to the city and its civic, social, and photographic history, this book especially pays homage to Berlin's inhabitants: full of hope and strength, in their faces is reflected Berlin's undying soul. ? Including images by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Helmut Newton, Ren? Burri, Robert Capa, Thomas Struth, and Wolfgang Tillmans as well as well-known Berlin photo-chroniclers such as Friedrich Seidenst?cker, Erich Salomon, Willy R?mer, and Heinrich Zille. ? Quotations from Berliners and Berlin connoisseurs such as Vladimir Nabokov, Alfred D?blin, Herwarth Walden, Marlene Dietrich, Billy Wilder, Max Schmeling, Willy Brandt, Helmut Newton, Simon Rattle, and David Bowie. Also included: an index of photographers? biographies. The author: Hans Christian Adam studied psychology, art history and communication studies in G?ttingen and Vienna. As a specialist in historical pictorial material, he has published numerous articles and books, including titless on travel and war photography. For thisbook he has researched in public and private collections, viewed tens of thousands of images and also profited from the rich collection of written material in the Berlin State Library. He is also the author of TASCHEN's Edward Sheriff Curtis: The North American Indian, Karl Blossfeldt, and Eug?ne Atget: Paris.
Industry Reviews
"Ce veritable pave (4kg) nous fait decouvrir ces differentes facettes d'une maniere emotive et personnelle au travers de recits et de photos qui nous plongent dans l'intimite de la capitale allemande. Au final, on apprehende mieux la richesse actuelle de cette ville, veritable temoignage de la folie et de la beaute qui resident dans l'aventure humaine." * Petit Fute Magazine *
"Un somptueux album...Cette "ville absurde, peut-etre la plus surrealiste des villes europeennes", selon son auteur Hans Christian Adam, est racontee a travers 280 cliches signes, entre autres, Cartier-Bresson, Helmut Newton, Robert Capa, Thomas Struth et Wolfgang Tillmans." * Le Figaro Magazine *
"Courez vous procurer ce livre XXL qui assemble des cliches de la capitale allemande entre 1860 et aujourd'hui. Sur fond de grande Histoire, on y decouvre un peuple comme on ne l'a jamais vu...On croit lire un livre sur Berlin, on decouvre une somptueuse cartographie des emotions humaines." * L'Express *
"Faire le portrait d'une ville en sept cents pages, voila un projet bien ambitieux. Pari reussi pour ce tres bel ouvrage... Le lecteur vit veritablement avec la population berlinoise qui traverse les evenements terribles que l'on connait." * Connaissance des arts *
"Une brique? Non, un monument... une des plus vastes enquetes photographiques jamais realisees sur les 150 dernieres annees de la ville de Berlin... Voyage a travers une ville, transfert dans le temps, le livre est aussi, selon la bonne habitude de TASCHEN, propose en trois langues." * L'Eventail *
"Quatre kilos en grand format pour cette magnifique etude photographique composant le portrait d'une ville dont le nom fait battre le coeur de ceux qui l'ont visitee recemment comme de ceux qui revent d'y aller. On y trouve, superbement orchestres, les travaux de plus de 280 photographes dont les plus grands... Un riche et vivifiant voyage." * Le Soir *