Photographer Robert Lebeck was interested not only in "the event" in and of itself, but also in the stories on the fringes and the people behind the images. Lebeck was frequently to be found in that elusive terrain most photographers dream of: the right place at the right time. When he took the photo "Rapier Thief" on his tour of Africa in 1960, for instance, he captured a symbolic portrait of the end of European colonial power--an image which has since become a classic of press photography. His photographs of Japan contrast the wealth of a few with the poverty of many. And when he photographed in the Soviet Union in 1962, he demonstrated a rare understanding of its culture. This handsomely slipcased three-volume monograph gathers images from Moscow, Tokyo and Leopoldville (current-day Kinshasa). These pictures of Africa, Asia and the Soviet Union, mostly made in the early 1960s, show a world in upheaval, a world in which extremes were colliding. Furthermore, they suggests that there is much more to be considered than that which is presented in the photographic image.
 
About the Author
"For the last 12 years, photo journalist Robert Lebeck has been passionately collecting and carefully storing that which most people throw away: magazines. From the illustrated broadsheets of 19th century Europe to the color productions of 1950s and 60s America, Lebeck has kept them all. Born in Berlin in 1929, he took pictures for various magazines before moving to Stern, the German illustrated periodical, where he worked for 30 years, a period interrupted but once when he did a stint as editor-in-chief of Geo magazine. Since 1985, Lebeck has been the director of the Agfa Foto-Historama, located at the Museum Ludwig, Cologne. He is also the author of Vis- -vis: Bodo von Dewitz."