CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 11/23/2014

Blow-Up: Antonioni's Classic Film and Photography

In Antonioni's Hypnotic Eye on a Frantic World, the opening essay in Hatje Cantz's excellent new book on Antonioni's classic film and photography, Albertina museum contemporary photography curator Walter Moser quotes the filmmaker: "'Photographers… Are fashion photographers requested to stress the sexual angle or merely to concentrate on the clothes? Do they succeed in leaving on the photo the imprint of their personal taste? Which of his own photographs does he consider most successful artistically—and why?' These are just some of the questions that Michelangelo Antonioni formulated when doing the background research for Blow Up. They informed a questionnaire running to several pages in length that he presented to those London-based photographers on whom his protagonist was to be modeled." Featured image, a 1966 film still of David Hemmings and Veruschka in the film, is reproduced from Blow-Up.