The Swimming Pool in Photography [Hardcover]

A photographic leap into cooling waters

The Swimming Pool in Photographyinvites readers to dive into the cultural history of swimming pools.

As long as 5,000 years ago, the allure of the sea inspired humans to recreate its essence in miniature artistic forms, such as public baths where ancient rituals would take place. Since then, swimming pools have become status symbols and a source for a gamut of purposes from athletics to the simple pleasure of just being in water. It is no wonder, then, that filmmakers and photographers constantly return to the swimming pool as a subject and setting.

Reflections of water and light are captured in countless unique ways in the more than 200 compelling images of pools and swimmers that comprise this catalog. The Swimming Pool in Photographyincludes works by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Gigi Cifali, Stuart Franklin, Harry Gruyaert, Emma Hartvig, Jacques Henri Lartigue, Joel Meyerowitz, Martin Parr, Paolo Pelligrin, Mack Sennett, Alec Soth, Larry Sultan, Alex Webb and many others.

Old ones, new ones, drained ones, blue ones. An improbably mesmerizing look at swimming pools and their patrons through the ages.Ideal for the photography lover or anyone in cold climates who needs a visual reminder of warmer spots.Take a refreshing dip through the best swimming pools ever captured in still images.A watery lens through which to view class, gender, culture, fashion, art, nationalism, economics and ecology. It is the people, objects and architecture in and around the water that you will respond to.Chronicles the history of the pool from its health-minded origins in the late 1800s through its emergence as a status symbol to photograph.Hodgson’s book is a demonstration of how swimming pools are genetically photogenic. Perhaps it’s that a pool somewhat resembles a photograph: a field of glittering action, bordered by white. Or that before digilc