An epic pictorial history of the City by the Bay
Starting with an early picture of a gang of badass gold prospectors who put this beautiful Northern California city on the map, this ambitious and immersive photographic history of
San Francisco takes a winding tour through the
city from the mid–nineteeth century to the present day.
Enjoy eye-catching views of the city’s most enduring landmarks and symbols: the
Golden Gate Bridge,
Chinatown, the
picturesque trams that wind up and down the famously steep hills, the popular waterfront, its beautiful bay, and its spectacular cityscapes and vistas. San Francisco’s counterculture movements that shaped our collective consciousness are also featured prominently: the
beats of North Beach, the
hippies of Haight-Ashbury, the
gay communities of Castro, and the
Black Panthers of neighboring Oakland. Some of the city’s most famous residents also make appearances:
Robin Williams, The Grateful Dead, Angela Davis, Janis Joplin, Sylvester, and
Allen Ginsberg, among others.
This book features hundreds of newly found images from dozens of archives including museums, universities, libraries, galleries, private collections, and historical societies, from 19th-century daguerreotypes to mid-century Kodachromes to 21st-century digital pictures. Master photographers include, among others:
Stephen Shore, Imogen Cunningham, Fred Lyon, Steve Schapiro, Minor White, Dorothea Lange, Albert Watson, Robert Frank, Garry Winogrand, William Claxton, Fred Herzog, Ansel Adams, Jim Marshall, and many local shooters. Also includes introductory essays and captions by Bay Area–based author Richie Unterberger and a “Best of San Francisco” books, music, and movies section along with biographies of the photographers. Tony Bennett famously sang, “I left my heart in San Francisco,” and this meticulously researched and conceived portrait will equally inspire and make you fall in love with the spirit of the City by the Bay.
The Art Edition is an aerial view of the Golden Gate Bridge, c. mid-1950s. Fred Lyon took this photo from a small plane while he was living in the picturesque town of Sausalito across the Golden Gate strait.
Limited Art Edition (No. 76–150), with the print Seagull over Golden Gate Bridge, early 1950s, numbered and signed by photographer Fred Lyon.
Also available as a second Art Edition (No. 1–75), with the print Union Square, Post Street, 1947, numbered and signed by photographer Fred Lyon.
The author
Richie Unterberger is the author of numerous rock history books, including volumes on the Who, Bob Marley, and 1960s folk-rock. A San Francisco Bay resident for 35 years, he has contributed to numerous publications, including MOJO, Record Collector, and The Oxford American. He teaches courses at several Bay Area colleges, including the University of San Francisco, San Francisco State University, and the University of California at Berkeley.
The editor
Reuel Golden is the former editor of the British Journal of Photography and the Photography editor at TASCHEN. His TASCHEN titles include: Mick Rock: The Rise of David Bowie, both London and New York Portrait of a City books, The Rolling Stones, Her Majesty, Football in the 1970s, the National Geographic editions, the David Bailey SUMO and Andy Warhol. Polaroids.
The photographer
Known as “San Francisco’s Brassa,” Fred Lyon is a San Francisco native whose photographs have appeared in magazines such as Life, Look, Sports Illustrated, and Vogue. Lyon studied with Ansel Adams, and his photographs over the years have included news, fashion, advertising, and jazz. He’s photographed Billie Holiday and Sonny Rollins as well as dock workers, kids playing on the city’s famously steep Kearny Street, and fishermen in Sausalito. He has explored every corner of his hometown over the years, including photographing bridge painters touching up the Golden Gate Bridge, graphic black-and-white photographs of the city’s neighborhoods and architecture, and images of San Francisco at night.
San Francisco. Portrait of a City, Art Edition No. 76–150 'Seagull over Golden Gate Bridge, early 1950s'
Edition of 75
Digital C-print on Ilford Galerie FP Paper, paper size 16 x 20 in., print size 15.5 x 17.5 in.; Hardcover volume in a slipcase, 9.8 x 13.4 in., 3.98 kg (8.75 lb), 480 pages
The picture frame seen here is for display purposes only; the print is sold unframed.
