Massachusetts Review, Vol. XIX, No. 4, December 1978. Theme issue, Photography.

Also issued in hardcover as Photography: Current Perspectives. Special issue of this journal edited by Jerome Liebling. 262 pages. [Contents include Wright Morris, "In Our Image"; Walker Evans, "Photography"; Bill Jay, "The Romantic Machine: Toward a Definition of Humanism in Photography"; Anne Halley, "August Sander"; August Sander, "Photography as Universal Language; Estelle Jussim, "Icons or Ideology: Stieglitz and Hine"; Maren Stange, "Szarkowski at the Modern"; Kate Carlson & Bill Arnold, "The Bus Show"; Elizabeth Lindquist-Cock, "The Mid-Victorians"; Photographs by Helen Levitt, Walker Evans, Robert Wilcox, August Sander, Sally Stein, Robert Frank, Jerome Liebling, Lewis Hine, Alfred Stieglitz, and John Szarkowski; Roger Copeland, "Photography and the World's Body"; Carl Chiarenza, "The Early Work of Aaron Siskind"; Alan Trachtenberg, "Camera Work"; Allan Sekula, "Dismantling Modernism, Reinventing Documentary"; Paul Vanderbilt, "A Few Alternatives." 60 full page plates, many other illustrations. An outstanding compilation of essays and photographs. Corner bent on rear cover of wraps, otherwise very good. Summary:

The December 1978 photography theme issue of the Massachusetts Review (Vol. XIX, No. 4)—also published under the title Photography: Current Perspectives—is a seminal compilation of essays and portfolio imagery. Edited by photographer and educator Jerome Liebling, this critical volume bridges mid-century photographic theory, early-20th-century history, and contemporary social critique to assess the changing role of the medium.

Key Focus Areas

• The Theoretical and Historical Essays: The issue compiles highly influential texts exploring the nature of photographic truth and humanism. It features Wright Morris's insightful piece "In Our Image," reflections on the medium by Walker Evans, and Bill Jay’s "The Romantic Machine: Toward a Definition of Humanism in Photography." It also includes Estelle Jussim's "Icons or Ideology," which deeply interrogates the divergent legacies of Alfred Stieglitz's pictorialism and Lewis Hine's social documentation.

• The Transatlantic Perspectives: The publication provides crucial space for European photographic philosophy. Notably, it includes Anne Halley's translation of German photographer August Sander's essay "Photography as Universal Language," analyzing the democratic power and political manipulation of visual communication.

• The Political and Materialist Critique: Engaging directly with late-19th and 20th-century visual politics, the journal features Maren Stange’s research alongside Allan Sekula's landmark essay "Dismantling Modernism, Reinventing Documentary (Notes on the Politics of Representation)." Sekula's piece acts as a vital critique of how art institutions strip social and economic context from documentary records.

• The Diverse Portfolios: To ground its theoretical frameworks, the issue showcases a wide selection of masterwork imagery from prominent historical and contemporary figures. Featured artists include Helen Levitt, Walker Evans, August Sander, Robert Frank, Lewis Hine, John Szarkowski, Aaron Siskind, Jerome Liebling, and Robert Wilcox.