FORMES NUES
Albert Mentzel, Albert Roux [Editors]
Albert Mentzel, Albert Roux [Editors]: FORMES NUES. Paris: Editions d¹ Art Graphique et Photographique, 1935. First edition. Text in English, French, and German. Folio. Wire spiral-bound photographically printed wrappers. 96 plates. Cover image by Man Ray. Rear cover missing. Front cover very nearly detached with edgewear and chipping. Textblock fore edge thumbed with corner wear early and late. Overall, a good copy of a very uncommon title. 9.25 x 12.25 spiral-bound book with 22 pages of text and 96 Neogravure Plates. The first 22 pages of FORMES NUES consists of tri-lingual statements on the art and essence of photographing nudes by Pierre Boucher, Louis Caillaud, Andreas Feininger, John Havinden, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Man Ray, Emmanuel Sougez, and Maurice P. Verneuil.
1935 was certainly a very good year for PhotoBooks.
FORMES NUES celebrates the human body -- mostly the female body, with a representational smattering of men and boys. It also celebrates the art and science of photography, offering many examples of The New Vision, as well as new techniques such as solarization.
Unlike the PHOTOGRAPHIE Annuals published by Arts et Metiers Graphiques, FORMES NUES presents a single theme, illustrated by the finest contemporary European photographic artists. Many of these artists were pioneers in the significant cultural movements of the early twentieth century dadaism, surrealism, and modernism.
Contains 96 full-page Neogravure plates by Aram Alban, Laure Albin-Guillot, Binia Bill, Pierre Boucher, Brassai, Louis Caillaud, Frantisek Drtikol, Nora Dumas, Andreas Feininger, Emile Gos, Raoul Hausmann, John Havinden, Florence Henri, Andre Kertesz, Edmund Kesting, Julius Kulszar-Magyar, Ergy Landau, Jacques Lemare, Herbert List, Kefer-Dora Maar, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, George Platt Lynes, Therese Le Prat, Man Ray, Franz Roh, Georges Sand, Schall, Emmanuel Sougez, Andre Steiner, Stephen Storm, Maurice Tabard, Rolf Ubach-Michelet and Maurice P. Verneuil.
"In 1925, the critic, poet, and one of the founders of Surrealism, Andre Breton, posed the question: when would 'all the books that are worth anything stop being illustrated with drawings and appear only with photographs?¹ A few short years after this statement, the photographic image had established itself as one of the most provocative, poetic, and radical forms of representation in modern society. A plethora of groundbreaking exhibitions, books and publicity, the work of some of the most influential figures in history of photography, ushered in the creative flowering of the medium across Europe. Unquestionably the increasingly effective presence of photography was tied to the emergence of these new recruits and their passionate conviction regarding its creative worth." [Kerry William Purcell]
Neogravure belongs to the same family of intaglio printing techniques as engraving, etching and aquatint. As such, it requires an especially good quality of thick paper, one that can draw out the ink from the furthest recesses of the etched copper. In like manner, the plate embosses the finished prints, for its form is impressed into the dampened paper as they pass together through the rollers. Printed by hand in limited quantities, each Neogravure is considered an original, and its value is accordingly assured.
out of stock