This third volume in Skira’s History of Photography series serves as a major reference in the field of photography. The third volume (1941-1980) of the Skira History of Photography series considers the years signed by the revolution of color that marked the start of a radical change in the very nature of amateur photography. At the same time, through photojournalism, photography became a mirror of society and a tool for attempts to change it. This monograph traces the historical evolution of photography, focusing on artists such as Helen Levitt, Weegee, Robert Doisneau, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Josef Sudek, William Klein, Robert Frank, Richard Avedon, Shomei Tomatsu, William Eugene Smith, Gerhard Richter, Bernhard and Hilla Becher, Ugo Mulas, Ed Ruscha, and Larry Clark, just to name a few. The essays provide an in-depth discussion of some of the primary themes of the historical period: the evolution of documentary photography between 1950 and 1980, the color revolution, and the relationship between photography and conceptual art.

Former director of the Galleria Civica in Modena, Walter Guadagnini is a curator and professor of History of Contemporary Art at the Accademia di Belle Arte in Bologna.