Blow-Up: Antonioni's Classic Film and Photography

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The 1966 cult film Blow-Up is not only the widely recognized, first English-language film from Michelangelo Antonioni, but can also be regarded as an excursion in photography. On a futile search for evidence of a crime he thinks he has seen, fashion photographer Thomas enlarges his pictures, pushing the envelope of the medium's boundaries. Antonioni's film, a milestone in film history, revolves around the issue of how much truth exists in perception and delves into the ways in which media reproductions can be manipulated. This publication examines Blow-Up from a photographic perspective, investigating in detail the photographic and art-historical stances presented in the film, as well as the genres it represents. The stylistic devices discussed range from social reportage, fashion photography and Pop art to abstract photography. In addition to film stills, works that can be seen in Blow-Up and photographs that illuminate the cultural context of the film, the famous, ambivalently incriminating photos are also included here. This volume demonstrates that Blow-Up has retained its relevance into the present day as a study of images and their multitudes of interpretations.