Paris. Portrait of a City

Last night, I spent about half an hour with this book. I was awed.Its photos and illustrations filled me with the same level of wonder, curiosity, and admiration that I feel for Paris itself. And it manages to do it without going overboard with gaudy fetishism of the city.Most images are impossibly mind-blowing, like the 1895 photo of a train that smashed through the second-story wall of a train station, which Antonin Neurdein executed with beautiful composition and technical perfection.Others tell how the Paris we know today came to be. An 1860 image depicts swaths of demolished medieval homes, buildings razed to make way for Haussman's renovation. The three-decade period remade the cramped, disorganized city with wide boulevards and the harmonious architecture of cream-colored stone buildings that now rise to uniform heights.Other photos add to the book's honest and not-too-romanticized vision of the city. Innovative fashion photos delight. Henri Cartier-Bresson's images appear, but not to serve a now-clichéd ideal of Paris. Instead, a handful of his lesser-known photos enrich the book without hard-selling the fanciful fairy tale of the city."Paris. Portrait of a City" isn't the book I intended to buy. When a friend described an extraordinary book about Paris -- without providing the title -- this is what I purchased. It wasn't what I was looking for, but I fell in love. I can't wait to spend more time with it.

I got it as a gift from my son, who knows I love Paris. Nice book! I love it!

Gift for couple!

Got it for girlfriend after we went to Paris... should have gotten it before we went! It was fun to flip through and recognize places, as well as look for new places to visit next time. Wonderful pictures, and interesting articles as well.

the prefect gift to a Paris lover!

Not sure why a book would receive a downgraded review because of shipping issues, exactly. Mine arrived in pristine shape, cheaper and smarter than dragging it home on a flight from their Paris shop. All the great photographers and iconic images are represented here. Easily the best of their "Portrait of a City" books, although perhaps I am just partial to the City of Light. Easily worth 5 times the price.

Don't think because the cover has a classic Helmut Newton photo that this is a book of half naked girls. It's not. It's a big, and beautiful book about Paris, full of photos organized in a timeline. I'm not going to go into depth about the material. Just buy it, grab some coffee, and start flipping the pages. You're going to love it.

Ok still love the book but pictured cover is topless woman on front not what shown so had to kind of style a candle around some of it but very large and gorgeous book! Loved the used portion of it too gives such character as if zi bought it on a trip. So good.

The media could not be loaded. Excelente livro. Mostra diferentes aspectos de Paris ao longo do tempo. Fotos muito bonitas. O livro tem um grande porte e é pesado. Ele chegou com um pequeno amassado em sua capa. Uma excelente peça de decoração e cultural também.

Un clásico para disfrutar de espectaculares imágenes de Paris.

Complimenti avevo comprato un libro usato in buone condizioni in realtà mi è arrivato nuovo con cellophane, una bella transazione! Il libro è bello pieno di foto e considerazioni e nozioni, a me è piaciuto.

Livre magnifique pour les amoureux de ParisDe très belles photos et de bons articles, une source de connaissance sur la capitale sur tous les sujets.Ce livre est un vrai plaisir.

携帯の翻訳を片手に、じっくり楽しんでいます。紙質、写真のシャープさ、一流写真家の作品ばかり、どれをとっても最高です。こんなに安価で良いのでしょうか。早くコロナが終息してほしい。明日にでもパリに行きたくなります。ありがとう!