The Art of the American Snapshot 1888-1978.

The Art of the American Snapshot 1888-1978, by Sarah Greenough & Diane Waggonerr. Sarah Kennel and Matthew S. Witkovsky. National Gallery of Art and Princeton University Press/294 pp./$55.00 (hb).

Full of deceptive moments, tableaus, and oddities, The Art of the American Snapshot 1888-1978 offers probably the most comprehensive explanation of how contemporary photography came to be. To their credit, others have done well to cover the technical aspects (inventions and scientific history) and general historical context (influential world events) of photography. However, The Art of the American Snapshot goes further by delving into not the famous photographers and inventors but the common masses whose own collections constitute a common thread that eventually grew into the leading trends of contemporary photography.

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Covering a ninety-year span, these people documented their times, lives, and loved ones. In this age of electronic (and intangible) personal archives, there is a renewed interest in the paper photograph and the story that a collection tells about a person's life. This beautifully arranged book is full of delightful images that will bring a smile to your face with each turn of the page. Reminding us once again (with a reference to the importance of the Kodak Company) that, by making the medium accessible to the masses, fewer than ever are under the impression that they cannot take a picture--in the way they might feel if asked to produce a drawing or painting. Photography walks a unique line between old and new, high-art and commonplace; and The Art of the American Snapshot aims to bridge that gap and illustrate that, despite its evolution, photography is still about the people.