Nancy Newhall was one of the founders of Aperture, an influential photography magazine founded in 1952; an early member of the staff of the Department of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York; the husband of Beaumont Newhall, the preeminent historian of photography and the Department’s first curator; an intimate friend of Ansel Adams and other noted photographers of that era; an accomplished photographer in her own right; and a disciple (I think it’s not too strong a word) of the aged and eccentric Alfred Stieglitz. She was also an accomplished writer, as this collection of her writings shows clearly. There are articles on Adams, Edward Weston, and Paul Strand, among others, and a great deal of material about Stieglitz, as well as a scattering of pieces on photography in general.

There’s lots of interesting stuff here about the development of photography as an art form during the early to mid-20th century; as such, it’s a good companion piece to her husband’s masterful History of Photography. The main problem–and a serious one for a book about photographers–is that there are very few photographs in it. Every piece begins with one picture, often one taken by Newhall herself; but the pictures she writes of are not present, which can be quite frustrating. And frankly, the emphasis on Stieglitz, while fascinating, is a little creepy.

Anyway, this is clearly not a book for general consumption; but if you’re interesting in the history of photography, it’s got some interesting material in it.