Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Great photographers and celebrities come together in this glittering collection of over 200 iconic portraits. In Face to Face Paul Ardenne sharpens our awareness of what it means to be photographed, to be taken hostage by the photographic image. He explores questions of authenticity, value, and the capacity for a portrait to create an illusion. The photographs, by the greatest names in photography, have been carefully juxtaposed to demonstrate the diversity of photographic styles.
Photographs by: Diane Arbus, Matthew Barney, Cecil Beaton, Constantin Brancusi, Harry Callahan, Sophie Calle, Robert Capa, Larry Clark, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Gilbert & George, Nan Goldin, David Hockney, Dorothea Lange, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Annie Leibovitz, Robert Mappelthorpe, Yasumasa Morimura, Helmut Newton, Orlan, Pierre & Gilles, Man Ray, Bettina Rheims, Cindy Sherman, Wolfgang Tillmans, Andy Warhol, William Wegman
Featuring: Mao Tse-tung, Che Guevara, Abraham Lincoln, Lady Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed, Fidel Castro, Jacqueline Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Marcel Duchamp, Catherine Deneuve, Billie Holiday, Greta Garbo, Man Ray, Georgia O'Keefe, Marlene Dietrich, Ava Gardner, Kate Moss, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Marilyn Munroe, Ingrid Bergman, Uma Thurman, David Bowie, Brooke Shields, Robert Redford, Sylvester Stallone, Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, Elton John, Sammy Davis Jr., Meryl Streep, Anthony Hopkins, Keith Richards, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Liza Minelli, Bianca Jagger, Barry Manilow

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

What is the role of a portrait? To capture? Tell a story? Inform? This sumptuous book explores such questions through the work of dozens of photographers (e.g., Annie Liebovitz, Cecil Beaton), whose subjects include such icons as Marilyn Monroe and Fidel Castro. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

CHOICE Review

The strength of Face to Face lies in the 250 pages of interestingly chosen and juxtaposed photographs, largely but not exclusively from the 20th century. In the short introductory essay, art historian Ardenne employs a subjective methodology in exploring the nature and meaning of portrait photography. He assumes that society is spectacle oriented, that photography inherently lies, and that the camera cannot record the full physicality of the sitter. Within this context, he considers the relative power and control of the sitter vis-a-vis the photographer and the negotiations that occur to produce a portrait. Assuming that the world is essentially confrontational, Ardenne discusses ethnographic portraits as images taken of losers by winners. However, he admires Curtis's photographs of Native Americans as dignified images and finds Curtis's imaginative costuming and compositions justifiable. Ardenne considers reasons why a sitter might want a portrait, provides a brief history of portrait photography, and concludes with the self-portrait. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals. S. Spencer North Carolina State University