Hans Eijkelboom: Paris - New York - Shanghai

Cleverly bound into a single volume, this three-book, accordion-folded set profiles the street life of the three titular cities, all world cultural capitals of their times: 19th-century Paris, 20th-century New York, and 21st-century Shanghai. While the book's concept, design, and packaging are distinctive, to say the least, its great strengths are the candid, intimately close portraits of the cities' residents. This is not simply street photography but people watching at its finest: Dutch conceptual artist Eijkelboom captures the essence of individuals in a glimpse, then arranges similarly composed or themed images (e.g., of denizens wearing horizontally striped shirts) into a snapshot-style grid, with eight photos to a page. The viewer is thus invited not only to study each image but also to compare multiple photographs by place and activity. British documentary photographer Martin Parr likens the artist to an anthropologist in his introduction, while conceptual artist Tony Godfrey offers a thoughtful essay-both contributions are tucked in an envelope glued to the inside cover of this uniquely designed and fascinating book. Highly recommended for photography and art collections in public and academic libraries.