Reddit reviews 20th Century Photography

Here's some names to start you off. It's a variety of styles and subjects:

• Ansel Adams
  
• Richard Avedon
  
• Brassai
  
• Henri Cartier-Bresson
  
• Robert Capa
  
• Walker Evans
  
• Robert Frank
  
• Andreas Gursky
  
• Ernst Haas
  
• Philippe Halsman
  
• Yousuf Karsh
  
• Andre Kertesz
  
• Dorothea Lange
  
• Annie Leibovitz
  
• Don McCullin
  
• Daido Moriyama
  
• Martin Parr
  
• Irving Penn
  
• Man Ray
  
• W. Eugene Smith
  
• Edward Steichen
  
• Edward Weston
  
• Garry Winogrand
  
• Dan Winters
  
  I highly recommend 20th Century Photography put out by the Museum Ludwig in Cologne. Great affordable volume with a lot of great photos.
  
  Another good pick is Phaidon's The Photography Book but you want the old hardcover I hear, since the softcover is substantially smaller.

Eggleston isn't my favorite either, but he pioneered a whole style. This is probably his most famous picture, I think. I like people who followed him, like Stephen Shore who is also saying something about the everyday through pictures of banal situations. Check out the New Topographic photographers.

I am trying to remember how I picked up what I know about art photography. I did it over a while. I do remember using the Masters of Photography website a lot. Consider a survey book like Taschen's 20th century photographs.

As for Gursky, I think it's mostly about who he is. He's the guy who makes gigantic prints of scenes, and that has been judged artistically important. Similarly, Cindy Sherman's schtick is putting herself in fake movies or pictures and commenting on gender roles etc, and that has definitely been judged important. The art market buyer's, museum curators and gallerists judge what's important.