Exploring the work of one of the most prolific, versatile and admired female photographers of the 20th century, Dorothy Bohm at 100 takes a fresh look at the photographer’s 75-year-long career, showing a selection of her most iconic images alongside many previously unpublished works.

Born in 1924 into a Jewish family in East Prussia, Dorothy Bohm was sent to the safety of England in 1939.  Her experience of war and dislocation deeply influenced her photographic approach, one that displays a fascination with people from all walks of life, particularly women and children. 

After training in studio portraiture in 1940s Manchester, Bohm travelled extensively in the post-war period, establishing herself as a leading humanist street photographer. The mid-1980s saw a shift as Bohm started working exclusively in colour, infusing her images with texture and spatial ambiguity, evoking the human presence in increasingly abstract, complex and allusive forms.

This new volume, published to mark the centenary of Bohm’s birth, showcases the diversity of her work and her profound empathy for the human condition.

The book features essays by Martin Barnes, Senior Curator of Photographs, Victoria & Albert Museum, photographer and writer Rachel Wallace, a biographical essay by art historian Monica Bohm-Duchen, and short texts by a wide range of notable contributors, each focussing on a single photograph.

With contributions from:

Maria Balshaw
Martin Barnes
Katy Barron
Monica Bohm-Duchen
Colin Ford CBE
Anna Fox
Lydia Goldblatt
Mark Haworth-Booth
Amanda Hopkinson
Ian Jeffrey
Esther Leslie
Markéta Luskačová
Don McCullin
Pelumi Odubanjo
Martin Parr
Nissan N. Perez
Marissa Roth
Paul Smith
George Szirtes
Rachel Wallace
Marina Warner
Val Williams

Details

245 x 300 mm
240 pages
197 images
Hardcover, printed and foiled cover, section sewn, speciality papers and full colour printing throughout.

English

Published by Beam Editions
1st Edition 2024