The corks are popping at Porsche. The Austrian-born Swabians are celebrating 70 years of Porsche sports cars with great effort and much fanfare - and not a week goes by on the book market without a new publication on the subject of Porsche. The brand has managed to exert a great attraction. Only the Porsche story has not changed in the last 70 years. That's why we deliberately ignore the books that revive the Porsche story for the umpteenth time without any new aspects.
That's why we're devoting these book reviews to a book that tackles the Porsche story artistically.
Bernd Ostmann & René Staud
With Bernd Ostmann as editor and René Staud as photographer, this is a professional team in the cockpit that aims to showcase Porsche history with unique studio photography. Ostmann, known as editor-in-chief of Auto, Motor und Sport for many years, has a great devotion to Porsche. The same applies to studio photographer René Staud, also born in 1951, who has made a name for himself in advertising photography for decades, particularly and above all in automotive photography.
While Ostmann and several colleagues from the AMS provide editorial guidance through the 306-plus pages, Staud's studio photographs are responsible for the picture section.
This composition is accompanied by contributions from Dr. Wolfgang Porsche and Dr. Oliver Blume as well as images from the Porsche archive.
Copyright 2016, Published 2018
It actually took a good two years for all the models presented by Staud to be photographed as meticulously as only the master could imagine. The layman probably can't even begin to imagine the effort that went into giving each model the necessary aura.
"We don't need gimmicks," is Staud's credo. This is also how the majority of his pictures look. Regardless of whether they are taken in the studio or outdoors. It doesn't matter whether it's a 911 set against a white background or a 356 Carrera GTL Abarth in an Alpine landscape.
Staud has mastered the interplay of light and shadow in order to achieve his goal of capturing the form of a Porsche in a picture with the highest aesthetic appeal. The two years required for the work are certainly worth it.
Icons of Porsche history
Of course, the book also presents a selection of Porsche icons. Even if the title leaves this idea out, almost 60 selected models are presented. And, of course, it will be interesting to see whether the team of authors has left out well-known icons or discovered new ones. As we all know, nothing has changed in the history of Porsche in the last 70 years. Sometimes it can seem a little trite to present the same 917 or praise the same 356 for the umpteenth time.
The bottom line, however, is that the number of models presented, at least in the era up to the end of the 1990s, which is of more interest to our readers, lacks quite a few models. Anyone looking for a 914/6 or a triangular scraper will have to look elsewhere. The book is geared more towards the Porsche mainstream. And that means early 356s, many 911s including turbo, then the transaxle era, as well as the transition to the reinvention of Porsche from the mid-90s with the Boxter.
The same applies to Porsche's motorsport history. Here, too, the focus is on the essentials, with the 910 fleet from 1967, including the 910 Bergspyders, staged in an interesting way. Six vehicles united in one picture underline Porsche's ambition at the time to finally ascend to the motorsport Olympus, whatever the cost.
In the text, Ostmann ensures that important vehicles are presented in detail by AMS editors. To do this, he uses a trick by simply drawing on the contemporary AMS test reports and using them as an editorial basis for the book.
What at first glance could appear worn out and cheap (there are already references to this in the table of contents) turns out to be a wonderfully nostalgic throwback to the views of the time. This is how the respective vehicle was recorded, assessed and categorized for the reader when it was presented. In view of the editorial strengths of the AMS, this is certainly not a bad idea.
Home stretch
Oops, EUR 79.00 is already in a demanding league. In return, the inclined viewer is offered quite a few Staud photographs. For historians, there is not much new to discover. The pictures from the Porsche archive are mostly familiar, the captions rather general. This book is not specific. But that is not its aim. Like many books in the anniversary year, it sets out in search of the Porsche myth. In its own way, it tries to get closer to the fascination of sports cars through René Staud's pictures. It spans a successful illustrated arc from 1948 to 2018, with the years between 1998 and 2018 making up only a quarter of the book.
The rather sparingly used text forms the historical bracket with Ostmann's notes, while the contemporary AMS reports selectively present the true Porsche icons from the author's point of view in the text. The book is well designed for its price. You can tell that it is primarily about the pictures by how much space is given to them. There is actually more to look at than to read. And there are also some rather unknown pictures from the Porsche archive. The text, on the other hand, can be seen more as a factual explanation... But it is technically competent and, as mentioned above, quite stimulating to read thanks to its contemporary perspective. What would be interpreted differently today was viewed more controversially back then. Or does anyone want to deny the 911 turbo its raison d'être?
The bottom line is that just under €80 is a lot of money for a book. However, you also get a lot of work in return, which is reflected more in the elaborate photography and studio work than in in-depth research into Porsche history. But this is precisely what will appeal to many Porsche enthusiasts and fans of the brand. Anyone interested in the skillful staging of Porsche models will enjoy this book. And thanks to its appealing design, you can leave it open after leafing through it.
Bibliographical information
- Title: Art of Porsche
- Author: Bernd Ostmann, René Staud
- Language: German/English
- Publisher: Motorbuch
- Edition: 1st edition 2018
- Format: Hardcover, 240 x 27 x 312 mm
- Scope: 308 pages, 162 color and 12 b/w images
- ISBN: 978-3-613-04081-6
- Price: EUR 79.00
- Buy/order: Online at amazon.de, online at Motorbuch Verlag or in a well-stocked bookstore
