edited by Athol McCredie, Te Papa Press
RRP NZ$99.99
ISBN 978-1-877385-64-3
The life and work of New Zealand’s best-known photojournalist is the subject of a stunning new book from Te Papa Press, and an exhibition which will tour New Zealand.
Brian Brake (1927 – 1988) began learning his craft as a teenager in camera clubs in the South Island, then as a portrait studio assistant and a cameraman at the National Film Unit in Wellington.
His international career took off after he was invited to join the prestigious Paris-based photo agency Magnum during what was to become a golden age for photojournalism. He worked alongside legends like Henri Cartier-Bresson and Ernst Haas, and was commissioned for lengthy, large-scale projects for LIFE and Illustrated magazines.
Today Brake is remembered best for his rare photographs behind the scenes of 1950s communist China, photo essays such as Monsoon (1961), and his iconic images of people such as Pablo Picasso, Robert Kennedy, Queen Elizabeth and Alfred Hitchcock, but he also filmed New Zealand’s first Oscar-nominated film, Snows of Aorangi (1950).
Brake’s vast body of work has never been seen, or critically considered in its entirety, until now. This book, and the Te Papa exhibition of the same name, was made possible after a substantial gift of his images made in 2001 to the Museum.
The exhibition opens on Saturday 23rd of October and will include floor talks, conducted by Athol McCredie.
"The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa gratefully acknowledges the gift, by Wai-man Lau, of the Brian Brake Collection, now part of the Museum’s permanent art collection."
Three images from the book are below:
Cheerleader at a Waseda University versus
Keio University baseball game, Tokyo
Taken for a series on Japan for Life 1964
Gathering dyed cloth on the banks of the Sabarmati River,
Ahmedabad, India 1958
Offerings to the unknown dead, Kyoto
(Toshi Satow offering a candle)
Taken for a series on Japan for Life 1964
A reduced form of the exhibition will tour NZ's art institutions, beginning with the Christchurch Art Gallery in September 2011.
Warning: Do not start looking at this book unless you have two-three hours spare, I found it totally fascinating. enthralling actually and had trouble pulling myself a away from it. Great reference section at the back of the book too for all interested in learning more of the man.What a master photographer he was. Congratulations to Athol McCredie and Te Papa Press.
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