PHILIP-LORCA DICORCIA: HEADS by DiCorcia, Philip-Lorca (Artist/Photographer) & Sante, Luc (Contributor) - 2001

Gottingen, Germany: Gerhard Steidl Druckerei Und Verlag/Pace Wildenstein, 2001. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. Gottingen, Germany: Gerhard Steidl Druckerei Und Verlag/Pace Wildenstein, 2001. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 40 pages. Retrospective collection of portrait-cum-street photographs. One of the most beautiful art photography books of our time. The first and only edition. Published in a small and limited print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now rare. A brilliant production by Philip-Lorca diCorcia and Gerhard Steidl: Oversize-volume format. Black cloth boards with white titles embossed on spine, as issued. Photographs by Philip-Lorca diCorcia. Essay by Luc Sante. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper by Steidl in Gottingen, Germany to the highest standards. The reproduction quality is exemplary in every respect. In matching black DJ with white titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Published on the occasion of the exhibition held at Pace Wildenstein Gallery New York from September 6 through October 13, 2001. Presents Philip-Lorca diCorcia's "Heads". His austerely original approach to the portrait, photography's oldest inherited genre (from painting), that the artist/photographer has given a fresh and nuanced twist by assimilating elements of street photography, the one genuinely photographic genre. "Setting up shop in New York City, diCorcia took unstaged pictures of passers-by that follow in the street photography tradition of Paul Strand, Walker Evans, Harry Callahan, and Robert Frank. DiCorcia's work helps to re-define the genre, bringing portraiture and street photography into our post-modern world" (Publisher's blurb). In other words (and despite being snapshots), they remain consistent with his elaborately staged photo-tableaux, in which he meticulously plans every element of the image before taking even one shot. These portraits may have been taken unposed and without the anonymous subjects' knowledge, but they still look posed rather than snapshot-spontaneous. In this sense, the collection is a departure from the genre we call street photography, and represents a further refinement of Philip-Lorca diCorcia's rigorous aesthetics. There is an eerie stillness in each of the portraits that fixes one's gaze on the image within the frame, just as all of diCorcia's constructed images do. The subjects in the foreground are well-lit while the details in the background are blurred or darkened, capturing the essential "alone-ness" and "private-ness" that characterize the artist/photographer's artistic universe while hinting at the ineffable, the mysterious, and the sublime at the same time. "Photography is a foreign language everyone thinks he speaks" (Philip-Lorca diCorcia). An absolute "must-have" title for Philip-Lorca diCorcia collectors. <b><i> This title is a contemporary art photography classic. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and despite its imperfection (rubbing on the black DJ) is still in especially fine condition: Every single internal page is clean, crisp, and bright. The cloth boards are sharp, with NO bumping at all. It is priced accordingly. Please note: Copies available online have very serious flaws ("Good") yet are priced as though they had collectible value. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. </b></i> 17 color plates. One of the most important and influential artist/photographers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER PHILIP-LORCA DICORCIA TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 3882434414.