Michals, Duane. The Photographic Illusion....Masters of Contemporary Photography Series.

Alskog, 1975.  [How Michals creates his portraits and sequences, inc. "The Human Condition," "The Creation," and "Something Strange Is Happening."] Wraps, very fine except for slightly indented lines on rear cover.  

Duane Michals (1932–2026) was an influential American photographer who transformed mid-20th-century photography through his innovative use of narrative sequences and handwritten text overlaid onto prints. Emerging in the 1960s as a self-taught artist after initial training in graphic design, Michals departed from traditional photojournalism and formalist aesthetics to create staged, multi-frame stories that explored existential themes such as mortality, desire, memory, and spiritual identity. In addition to his groundbreaking fine art projects and widespread international exhibitions—including solo shows at the Museum of Modern Art and the International Center of Photography—he was celebrated for his commercial work and intimate portraits of major cultural figures such as René Magritte, Andy Warhol, and Marcel Duchamp. Michals passed away in Manhattan on June 9, 2026, at the age of 94, leaving behind a legacy as one of modern photography's most singular storytellers.

The Photographic Illusion: Duane Michals is a seminal volume in the celebrated Masters of Contemporary Photography series. The book serves as part instructional guide and part artistic monograph, offering a look behind the scenes at how Duane Michals constructs his highly conceptual imagery.

Key Focus Areas

• The Creative Core: The book investigates Michals' groundbreaking subversion of traditional photography. Rather than acting as a passive observer capturing reality, Michals uses the camera to construct "illusions"—visual fables that map out intangible human experiences such as memory, death, desire, and spirituality.

• The Dual Career: A major focus of the book is the intersection of Michals' personal fine art and his commercial assignments. It features examples of his self-directed, narrative photo-sequences alongside his high-profile commercial portraits and editorial features for major magazines, showcasing his ability to satisfy corporate art directors without losing his distinct personal voice.

• The Behind-the-Scenes Analysis: The volume provides deep breakdowns of some of his most famous early photo-sequences. Readers are given step-by-step insight into how he conceived and shot multi-frame conceptual narratives, utilizing practical, in-camera techniques like double exposures and deliberate motion blur to evoke a sense of the supernatural.

• The Technical Appendix: True to the format of the series, the book concludes with a dedicated technical section. This area details the specific equipment, films, exposure times, and staging methods Michals used to pull off his complex, thought-provoking imagery on a limited budget.