Strand, Paul. Paul Strand. A Retrospective Monograph. The Years 1915-1946. Volume 1. The Years 1950-1968. Volume 2. Two volume set.

Aperture, 1972. First edition thus. Cloth with small edge chips and larger closed tears on back covers of dust jackets. One dust jacket with clear tape repairs on verso and spine. New dust jacket protectors, dust jackets rated good, books fine. Not issued with ISBN number.  Heavy books, more postage required than most items in my store.  Summary:

Paul Strand: A Retrospective Monograph (published in 1971 by Aperture) is a monumental, two-volume definitive survey. Functioning as the definitive mid-career summation of one of modern photography’s foundational titans, this massive 382-page publication details the aesthetic, geographic, and philosophical shifts across more than fifty years of creative production.

Key Elements of the Work

• Volume 1: The Years 1915–1946: This volume anchors Strand’s foundational American and Mexican output, comprising 125 full-page black-and-white plates. It documents his rapid transition from soft-focus Pictorialism into pioneering machine-age abstraction, candid New York street portraits, dynamic architectural angles, and his politically charged 1930s landscapes of the Southwest and Mexico.

• Volume 2: The Years 1950–1968: This volume catalogs Strand’s extensive post-World War II international portfolios across 183 full-page plates. It tracks his physical and ideological shift away from the United States to establish a home base in Europe, compiling comprehensive humanist photo-text profiles of regional communities in France, Italy, the Outer Hebrides (Scotland), Egypt, Romania, and Ghana.

• A Multi-Voice Critical Anthology: Rather than relying on a single biographer, the monograph functions as a literary collage. It juxtaposes Strand’s own artist statements against historic and contemporary essays by a massive roster of legendary critics, artists, and historians—including Alfred Stieglitz, Nancy Newhall, John Berger, Helmut Gernsheim, Leo Hurwitz, and Cesare Zavattini.

Narrative Intent

The two-volume retrospective serves to codify Strand's lifetime contribution to the medium, framing his career not as disconnected geographical phases, but as a continuous, evolving crusade for "straight photography." By pairing his crisp, formal command of tone and texture with a deeply empathetic view of working-class citizens worldwide, the monograph highlights how Strand effectively transformed the camera into an instrument of both pure artistic modernism and profound social conscience.