​21.02.2019

Book tip: "Through a Different Lens"

by Eyes & Ears of Europe

The book "Through a Different Lens: Stanley Kubrick Photographs", published by Donald Albrecht and Sean Corcoran, shows photographs by the famous director Stanley Kubrick for Look magazine.

At the age of 17, Kubrick, who was born in the Bronx, began working as a photographer for the magazine. From 1945, he spent five years photographing for Look in the streets, clubs and sports arenas of New York. These works already reveal his instinct for storytelling, which he later perfected in his films. He captures stars as well as everyday moments with his camera - anything that might interest the readers of the magazine: People in the laundromat, sports stars, showgirls in their dressing rooms, circus artists, taxi drivers changing tires, couples kissing on the platform, shoeshine boys, patients in their dentist's waiting room, prominent businessmen, politicians, children in amusement parks, and commuters on the subway.

The black-and-white photographs from Stanley Kubrick's young years show his sense for composition, tension and atmosphere and seem like film stills to never shot noir dramas from the jungle of the big city.

"Turning his camera on his native city, Kubrick memorialised the celebrities and shoeshine boys in images that expressed the pathos of ordinary life – and pointed toward his future as one of the 20th century’s great artists," says Donald Albrecht, author and curator.

"Through a Different Lens" is published for an exhibition of Kubrick's photographs at the Museum of the City of New York. With around 300 pictures and numerous reproductions from the Look magazine, it shows a little-known side of the director. The exhibition will be shown at the Design Museum in London from 26 April to 17 September 2019. 

The 328-page publication "Through a Different Lens: Stanley Kubrick Photographs" has been published by TASCHEN Verlag and is available in bookshops at a price of 50.00 euros. Further information can be found at https://www.taschen.com/