Robert Frank is among the most important living photographers, but to say this is to understate the self-evident. At the same time, it seems ironic to articulate the importance of an artist who is so indifferent to success and so suspicious of whatever is well regarded. Frank's work chronicles th

Beats, Contemplative, Documentary photography, Intimate, Melancholy, Minimal, Open-ended, Sublime

In a well-appointed flat, a series of scenes unfolds around the circumference of a room: a man sits on a couch, head resting on his fist as if lost in troubled thoughts; across the room another man crouches over a dark wood chest -- is he doubled over in pain or merely inspecting the valuable antique

Documentary photography, Enigmatic, Erotic, Grand, Playful, Quirky, Young british artists, Young british/kitchen sink/free cinema

Andreas Gursky's hyper-real images take photography just about as far from the narrative tradition as is possible without entering abstraction. Although his pictures are devoid of romance -- what you see is what you get -- and he employs a camera with a large depth of focus, rendering even the most r

Composed, Documentary photography, Hypnotic, Intense, Monumental, Saturated

One of the early experimenters with the telephoto lens, Penn perceived photography as a distillation of reality, rather than an elaboration upon it. He achieved deliberately structured compositions by borrowing from the natural northern lighting of traditional European painters. His first cover f

Documentary photography, Dramatic, Elegant, Fashion photography, Social realism, Sophisticated