Hatje Cantz
From Polaroid to Impossible
Masterpieces of Instant Photography
The WestLicht Collection
Edited by Achim Heine, Rebekka Reuter, Ulrike Willingmann, texts by Achim Heine, Florian Kaps, Interview with Manfred Heiting by Rebekka Reuter, graphic design by Heine/Lenz/Zizka
192 pages
230 color illustrations
25 x 32.5 cm
Hardcover
ISBN 978-3-7757-3221-5
“This book provides a brief glimpse into that unique collection and is fitting tribute to the innovation, invention and creativity that the Polaroid format inspired.” photo-eye Magazine
The art of Polaroid – the first presentation of the legendary instant film‘s fascinating range of materials and techniques
While the world evaporates into the digital, the anachronistic Polaroid snapshot dominates media and advertising. The recent sale of the photography collection owned by Polaroid’s inventor Edwin Land to the Viennese photography museum WestLicht marks an art-market trend toward the analog. Beginning in the sixties, Polaroid supplied artists around the world, from Ansel Adams to Andy Warhol, with each one of the imperium’s latest products. In return, 4,400 works by 800 photographers found their way into the company’s International Collection at their European headquarters near Frankfurt am Main. In 2008, when the last instant film factory was rescued from demolition by the company Impossible, the founder’s commitment to collecting could be carried on as well. This publication features selected Polaroid masterpieces and new Impossible instant photography by contemporary artists such as Stefanie Schneider and Nobuyoshi Araki.
Exhibition: WestLicht, Vienna, June 17–August 21, 2011
