| Books & Catalogues |
Ruth Bernhard
The Eternal Body: A Collection of Fifty Nudes (Signed Copy)
1986
Book hardbound
0 x 0 in. (0 x 0 mm)
Photography West Graphics, Carmel, CA, 1986. Large oblong quarto. Decorated pink cloth. Mint in fine dust jacket, which has sunning (as is typical with this book; the inks faded quickly to the light green) on spine just into front cover and two light rubs, but is otherwise perfect. Warmly and boldly signed. A retrospective collection of Bernhard's work, an erotic photography classic and a magnificently produced and very beautiful book. In her introduction, Bernhard states: "In photographing the nude, it is my aim to transform the complexities of the figure into harmonies of simplified form. I have approached my work with the nude much as I create a still life, with patience and reverence. My quest through the magic of light and shadow, is to isolate, to simplify and to give emphasis to form with the greatest clarity." The 50 plates are arranged chronologically and span the years from 1934 to 1976 (list of plates at rear of book). Includes two essays by Margaretta K. Mitchell, one on photographing the nude and the other a brief biography of Bernhard. In this condition and signed, this is a very rare book.
Price: $650 Sale: $455 (ref. 9142)
The Eternal Body: A Collection of Fifty Nudes (Signed Copy)
1986
Book hardbound
0 x 0 in. (0 x 0 mm)
Photography West Graphics, Carmel, CA, 1986. Large oblong quarto. Decorated pink cloth. Mint in fine dust jacket, which has sunning (as is typical with this book; the inks faded quickly to the light green) on spine just into front cover and two light rubs, but is otherwise perfect. Warmly and boldly signed. A retrospective collection of Bernhard's work, an erotic photography classic and a magnificently produced and very beautiful book. In her introduction, Bernhard states: "In photographing the nude, it is my aim to transform the complexities of the figure into harmonies of simplified form. I have approached my work with the nude much as I create a still life, with patience and reverence. My quest through the magic of light and shadow, is to isolate, to simplify and to give emphasis to form with the greatest clarity." The 50 plates are arranged chronologically and span the years from 1934 to 1976 (list of plates at rear of book). Includes two essays by Margaretta K. Mitchell, one on photographing the nude and the other a brief biography of Bernhard. In this condition and signed, this is a very rare book.
Price: $650 Sale: $455 (ref. 9142)
Vladimir Birgus
Vladimir Birgus--Photographs 1981-2004
2004
Book (Signed Copy) hardbound
8 x 9-1/16 in. (203 x 230 mm)
Prague, Kant 2004. First Edition Soft Cover ISBN No. 80-86217-78-7. Newly released in English. Multilingual text Czech/English/French. Unpaginated, 39 full page color plates. Matt Damsker writes in his review of this book: "Birgus's rigor and vision in co-curating that wonderful survey of Czech photography extends to his own work as well, and this 20-year chronicle of his artistry is filled with striking, consistently edgy photos. As Elzbieta Lubowicz notes in her introduction, Birgus uses large areas of dominant color--often primaries, and often red or yellow--to create an "unrealistic atmosphere [that reminds] us of abstract paintings more than of reality recordings." And yet his images are always in touch with the grit and texture of the modern, urban world. The human figures in his geometrically flattened landscapes of intersecting planes, shadows and sun-struck color are recognizably self-absorbed, often standing or walking in relation to one another, but without narrative or emotional connection. The result is a singular photographic strategy that celebrates random visual fact, the coloristic beauty of everything from industrial materials to blue sky, and the human form as a means of activating and offsetting the inanimate forms that press in on us. Across the beaches, tiles, boardwalks, landing strips, streets, and rooftops of cities from Moscow to Paris, Seattle to New York, Birgus makes haunting, expressive photographs that reward the eye with glancing detail, fragmented narrative and rich natural light. His tendency to capture his own shadow as he takes the picture may echo Lee Friedlander without Friedlander's wit, but in the course of 20 years, Birgus manages to not repeat himself or fall prey to preciousness. His art brings the taut, toughened Czech sensibility into a wider world of big sky, sea, and postmodern architecture--and the result is usually something we have not seen before." With label and signature.
Price: $75 (ref. 10274)
Vladimir Birgus--Photographs 1981-2004
2004
Book (Signed Copy) hardbound
8 x 9-1/16 in. (203 x 230 mm)
Prague, Kant 2004. First Edition Soft Cover ISBN No. 80-86217-78-7. Newly released in English. Multilingual text Czech/English/French. Unpaginated, 39 full page color plates. Matt Damsker writes in his review of this book: "Birgus's rigor and vision in co-curating that wonderful survey of Czech photography extends to his own work as well, and this 20-year chronicle of his artistry is filled with striking, consistently edgy photos. As Elzbieta Lubowicz notes in her introduction, Birgus uses large areas of dominant color--often primaries, and often red or yellow--to create an "unrealistic atmosphere [that reminds] us of abstract paintings more than of reality recordings." And yet his images are always in touch with the grit and texture of the modern, urban world. The human figures in his geometrically flattened landscapes of intersecting planes, shadows and sun-struck color are recognizably self-absorbed, often standing or walking in relation to one another, but without narrative or emotional connection. The result is a singular photographic strategy that celebrates random visual fact, the coloristic beauty of everything from industrial materials to blue sky, and the human form as a means of activating and offsetting the inanimate forms that press in on us. Across the beaches, tiles, boardwalks, landing strips, streets, and rooftops of cities from Moscow to Paris, Seattle to New York, Birgus makes haunting, expressive photographs that reward the eye with glancing detail, fragmented narrative and rich natural light. His tendency to capture his own shadow as he takes the picture may echo Lee Friedlander without Friedlander's wit, but in the course of 20 years, Birgus manages to not repeat himself or fall prey to preciousness. His art brings the taut, toughened Czech sensibility into a wider world of big sky, sea, and postmodern architecture--and the result is usually something we have not seen before." With label and signature.
Price: $75 (ref. 10274)
Vladimir Birgus
Vladimir Birgus--Photographs 1981-2004
2004
Book (Signed Copy) softbound
8 x 9-1/16 in. (203 x 230 mm)
Prague, Kant 2004. First Edition Soft Cover ISBN No. 80-86217-78-7. Newly released in English. Multilingual text Czech/English/French. Unpaginated, 39 full page color plates. Matt Damsker writes in his review of this book: "Birgus's rigor and vision in co-curating that wonderful survey of Czech photography extends to his own work as well, and this 20-year chronicle of his artistry is filled with striking, consistently edgy photos. As Elzbieta Lubowicz notes in her introduction, Birgus uses large areas of dominant color--often primaries, and often red or yellow--to create an "unrealistic atmosphere [that reminds] us of abstract paintings more than of reality recordings." And yet his images are always in touch with the grit and texture of the modern, urban world. The human figures in his geometrically flattened landscapes of intersecting planes, shadows and sun-struck color are recognizably self-absorbed, often standing or walking in relation to one another, but without narrative or emotional connection. The result is a singular photographic strategy that celebrates random visual fact, the coloristic beauty of everything from industrial materials to blue sky, and the human form as a means of activating and offsetting the inanimate forms that press in on us. Across the beaches, tiles, boardwalks, landing strips, streets, and rooftops of cities from Moscow to Paris, Seattle to New York, Birgus makes haunting, expressive photographs that reward the eye with glancing detail, fragmented narrative and rich natural light. His tendency to capture his own shadow as he takes the picture may echo Lee Friedlander without Friedlander's wit, but in the course of 20 years, Birgus manages to not repeat himself or fall prey to preciousness. His art brings the taut, toughened Czech sensibility into a wider world of big sky, sea, and postmodern architecture--and the result is usually something we have not seen before." With label and signature.
Price: $50 (ref. 9711)
Vladimir Birgus--Photographs 1981-2004
2004
Book (Signed Copy) softbound
8 x 9-1/16 in. (203 x 230 mm)
Prague, Kant 2004. First Edition Soft Cover ISBN No. 80-86217-78-7. Newly released in English. Multilingual text Czech/English/French. Unpaginated, 39 full page color plates. Matt Damsker writes in his review of this book: "Birgus's rigor and vision in co-curating that wonderful survey of Czech photography extends to his own work as well, and this 20-year chronicle of his artistry is filled with striking, consistently edgy photos. As Elzbieta Lubowicz notes in her introduction, Birgus uses large areas of dominant color--often primaries, and often red or yellow--to create an "unrealistic atmosphere [that reminds] us of abstract paintings more than of reality recordings." And yet his images are always in touch with the grit and texture of the modern, urban world. The human figures in his geometrically flattened landscapes of intersecting planes, shadows and sun-struck color are recognizably self-absorbed, often standing or walking in relation to one another, but without narrative or emotional connection. The result is a singular photographic strategy that celebrates random visual fact, the coloristic beauty of everything from industrial materials to blue sky, and the human form as a means of activating and offsetting the inanimate forms that press in on us. Across the beaches, tiles, boardwalks, landing strips, streets, and rooftops of cities from Moscow to Paris, Seattle to New York, Birgus makes haunting, expressive photographs that reward the eye with glancing detail, fragmented narrative and rich natural light. His tendency to capture his own shadow as he takes the picture may echo Lee Friedlander without Friedlander's wit, but in the course of 20 years, Birgus manages to not repeat himself or fall prey to preciousness. His art brings the taut, toughened Czech sensibility into a wider world of big sky, sea, and postmodern architecture--and the result is usually something we have not seen before." With label and signature.
Price: $50 (ref. 9711)
Vladimir Birgus
Vladimir Birgus--Something Unspeakable
2003
Book (Signed Copy) hardbound
0 x 0 in. (0 x 0 mm)
Prague, Kant 2003. Hardcover, 132 pages . Photographs by Vladimir Birgus. Text by Thomas Pospech, Jan Smok, Ales Kunes, Vaclav Zykmund and Elzbieta Lubowicz. With label and signature.
Price: $45 (ref. 9712)
Vladimir Birgus--Something Unspeakable
2003
Book (Signed Copy) hardbound
0 x 0 in. (0 x 0 mm)
Prague, Kant 2003. Hardcover, 132 pages . Photographs by Vladimir Birgus. Text by Thomas Pospech, Jan Smok, Ales Kunes, Vaclav Zykmund and Elzbieta Lubowicz. With label and signature.
Price: $45 (ref. 9712)
Walter Chappell
Aperture, No.82 (Signed Copy)
1979
Book softbound
11-1/4 x 9-1/2 in. (286 x 241 mm)
Signed on the title page. Published by Aperture, New York, 1979.
Price: $65 Sale: $46 (ref. 13707)
Aperture, No.82 (Signed Copy)
1979
Book softbound
11-1/4 x 9-1/2 in. (286 x 241 mm)
Signed on the title page. Published by Aperture, New York, 1979.
Price: $65 Sale: $46 (ref. 13707)
Bruce Davidson
Subway (Signed Copy)
1986
Book hardbound
0 x 0 in. (0 x 0 mm)
Aperture, New York, 1986. First edition. Oblong quarto. Cloth, near fine in near fine dust jacket. Signed by the photographer on half title. An extraordinary book which picks up where Walker Evan's 1940's photographs of the New York Subway published in 1966 in "Many are Called" leave off. These gritty color images "move from the menacing to the lyrical, from the soulful to the satiric. They include lovers, commuters, tourists, families, and the homeless." The book was reprinted by the St. Ann's Press in 2003, but this is the scarce first edition, made even rarer by the presence of the photographer's signature.
Price: $750 Sale: $525 (ref. 9028)
Subway (Signed Copy)
1986
Book hardbound
0 x 0 in. (0 x 0 mm)
Aperture, New York, 1986. First edition. Oblong quarto. Cloth, near fine in near fine dust jacket. Signed by the photographer on half title. An extraordinary book which picks up where Walker Evan's 1940's photographs of the New York Subway published in 1966 in "Many are Called" leave off. These gritty color images "move from the menacing to the lyrical, from the soulful to the satiric. They include lovers, commuters, tourists, families, and the homeless." The book was reprinted by the St. Ann's Press in 2003, but this is the scarce first edition, made even rarer by the presence of the photographer's signature.
Price: $750 Sale: $525 (ref. 9028)