"Reading is a serious matter, but readers are seldom lonely or bored, because reading is a refuge and an enlightenment," says Paul Theroux in his foreword to the photographer Steve McCurry's latest volume of photography, On Reading. In over four decades of travelling round the world creating extraordinary images of conflicts, vanishing cultures, ancient traditions and contemporary culture, McCurry's work never fails to embrace the human condition. This personal collection celebrates the joy of the written word, in homage to legendary photographer Andre Kertesz's volume, On Reading, first published 45 years ago.
Paying tribute to the compelling, absorbing act of reading, the selection of images in McCurry's book spans 30 countries and captures private moments enjoyed by ordinary people on a New York sidewalk, a market in Afghanistan, a monks' seminary in Cambodia, an art gallery in St Petersburg. McCurry, a renowned member of Magnum Photos, finds his subjects in doorways, framed by open windows, on park benches, against the backdrop of struggle, often living close to the edge.
His empathetic eye elevates the everyday into poetic portrayals of life, providing visual testimony to the power of losing oneself in a book, a newspaper, a magazine. McCurry's lens is a witness to the ability of words to transport readers of all ages to imagined or real worlds.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In recording the pleasure of reading – so clear in his subjects' demeanours – on his travels, McCurry tells the stories of the private interior journeys undertaken, the temporary, cerebral escapes from mundanity, from war, from poverty, to richly engrossing alternative universes, and in so doing honours the transformative power of the written word.
On Reading by Steve McCurry, Phaidon, £39.95; phaidon.com
-
Jonathan Powell: who is the man behind Keir Starmer's foreign policy?Today's Big Question Prime minister's national security adviser is a 'world-class operator'
-
Summer sipping: the best fruit beersThe Week Recommends Check out these delightfully refreshing sweet and sour brews
-
How Putin misunderstood his past victoriesIn Depth Though Vladimir Putin has led Russia to a number of grisly military triumphs, they may have misled him when planning the invasion of Ukraine
-
Resistance: 'compelling' show captures a century of protestThe Week Recommends Turner prizewinner Steve McQueen curates 'fascinating' photography exhibition in Margate
-
Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: experimental portrait photographythe week recommends Their careers are separated by time but joined by their shared interest in spectral, dream-like atmospheres
-
Chris Killip: Retrospective at The Photographers’ Gallery reviewThe Week Recommends Superb and timely exhibition features ‘beautiful and painfully moving’ images
-
Vivian Maier: Anthology – this MK Gallery show is ‘pure pleasure’The Week Recommends Exhibition marks first time that Maier’s photography has been shown in the UK
-
Magnum Photos: Where Ideas Are Born – 20th century art icons in their studiosUnder the Radar An intimate look at modern and contemporary masters shot by legendary Magnum photographers
-
World Press Photo 2020: the most striking imagesThe Week Recommends Foundation releases array of moving international pictures from last year
-
Interview: photographer Nick KnightIn Depth The revered fashion photographer on his passion for English garden roses
-
Canadian artist Nicolas Ruel: a transformational journey to the heart of the SerengetiIn Depth
