Bohemia: History of an Idea 1950-2000 - Hardcover

by Russell Ferguson (Editor)

How photography has documented the transformation of the meaning of bohemia, from the postwar era to the present

From its origins in mid-19th-century Paris, the idea of bohemia has been a powerful component of what it means to be an artist. In this volume Russell Ferguson, research professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, looks at the world of bohemia from the end of World War II until the end of the century, when commodity culture began to erode the very way of life predicated on its refusal. The book examines how bohemia manifested itself in 10 cities in Europe, North America and Asia at particular moments in the second half of the 20th century, each foregrounding a different aspect of what bohemia has meant over time.
Photographers include: Fred W. McDarrah, Rudy Burckhardt, David Bailey, William Gedney, Nan Goldin, Alvin Baltrop, David Wojnarowicz, David Hujar, Anita Steckel, Libuse Jarcovjáková, Roy Arden, Wang Jin and Wolfgang Tillmans.