Push, Pull, Empty, Full: A Book of Opposites

Push, Pull, Empty, Full: A Book of Opposites is a photographic picture book by American photographer Tana Hoban (1917–2006). Originally published by Macmillan in 1972, this is the first paperback edition published by Collier Books in 1976.

Through black-and-white photographs of familiar people, objects, and everyday scenes, the book expresses words and concepts with opposite meanings, such as "push/pull" and "empty/full." The book is structured to help readers visually understand the meanings of words and the relationships between things by observing the actions and states captured in the photographs.

Hoban produced many photographic picture books that focused on visual elements found in daily life, such as shape, color, size, number, and position. In this book, as in her others, she connects looking with thinking through her choice of subjects and page composition.

This is one of Hoban’s early photographic picture books that uses photography as a medium of linguistic expression to stimulate children’s observational skills and visual perception.

[Title] Push, Pull, Empty, Full: A Book of Opposites
[Publisher] Collier Books (Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.)
[Publication Date] 1976 (Collier Books first edition)
[Number of Pages] 32 pages
[Size] Approx. 229 x 191 x 3 mm / Approx. 80 g
[Format] Paperback
[Language] English
[Title Pronunciation] Push, Pull, Empty, Full
[Author/Editor/etc.] Tana Hoban (Photography/Concept)
[Printing/Binding] Printed in the USA
[ISBN] 0020436009
[Condition] Pre-owned [3] Fair (General aging, tanning; writing on the half-title page)
[Accessories] -
[Featured Book] -
[Related Exhibition] -

Tana Hoban (1917–2006)

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, in 1917. Photographer and picture book author. After graduating from Moore College of Art in 1938 and working as an illustrator, she turned to photography.

She had a successful career in advertising and commercial photography, winning numerous awards as a photographer, filmmaker, and television commercial consultant. Her work is held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, and she participated in the 1955 photography exhibition "The Family of Man."

In 1970, she published her first photographic picture book, Shapes and Things. Subsequently, she created picture books that used photography to engage children’s visual perception and observational skills, focusing on themes such as shape, color, number, contrast, and space.

She released many photographic picture books, including Count and See, Look Again!, and Is It Red? Is It Yellow? Is It Blue?. By combining photography with concise text, she developed an expressive style that captured the familiar world from new perspectives. She passed away in 2006.

< Related Figures >

Tana Hoban
Edward Steichen
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
The Family of Man
Macmillan
Collier Books
Moore College of Art