The Photobook Library of Bill Diodato: Provocateurs & Innovators

As collector Bill Diodato knows, photography begins with the birth of the photobook. Long before the white wall or editioned print–and more than century before galleries and museums exhibited pictures–photographers recognized the book as an art form and used it to distribute, sequence and share their work. Although the experience of the book is intimate and personal, photographers boldly employed it, insisting the world take notice of photography’s powerful range of expression. 

The book serves as a distinct representation of the maker’s unique sensibility and methodology. Generally a small object, it nonetheless has a monumental and incomparable purpose: to allow us to hold in our hands the visions of towering figures of 19th and 20th century photography. 

Each of the books in Bill Diodato’s collection stands as an exceptional example of a rare, out-of-print title, while also serving as a distinct, vital entry point into the perspective of the photographer. 

Here we see William Klein’s freshly dynamic sequencing, Robert Frank’s revolutionary blending of observer and interpreter, Alexey Brodovitch’s artful and kinetic designs, Henri Cartier-Bresson’s careful 35mm eye, the expansive preoccupations of Andy Warhol’s Factory and the explosive world of the mid-century color photographers.

We watch history move, see our collective identity change, see the world reflected, revolutionized, reexamined and renewed. Here we see photography emerge as powerful, necessary force in the world.