[Photobook] Perspective of Nudes

New York: Amphoto, 1961. Hardcover. Fine/Fine-. First Edition of this seminal work in which Brandt's "formal inventiveness and keen eye for the surreal are most evident." (Roth 101) With preface by Lawrence Durrell and introduction by Chapman Mortimer. Squarish royal 8vo (275 x 240mm): 14,[2], with 90 numbered gravure plates (some double-page) divided by six numbered leaves into chronological sections. Publisher's patterned paper-covered boards, spine and upper cover lettered in red; photographically illustrated dust jacket printed in red and black and priced $7.95. Fine, tightly bound and clean throughout; about Fine jacket (skillful, almost imperceptible restoration to crown of spine). Parr & Badger 1, 216. Roth (101 Books), pp 160-61. Roth (Open Book), p. 188-89. Auer, p. 408. Brandt began study of the nude in 1945 and continued off and on until his death, in 1983 (for a broader but less in-depth survey, see our copy on offer of Nudes:1945-1980). But the series of nudes he made between 1947 and 1960 is especially renowned. "These startling images rewrote the language of nude photography . . . Brandt's approach was primarily formal, but his own sensibilities, combined with photography's tendency to overwhelm form's purity with life's impurities, ensured that his nudes are as interesting for their psychological undertones as for the wealth of unexpected forms he conjured. He did so with a camera that was devoid of a practicable viewing mechanism [a shutterless old Kodak he found in a secondhand shop] and thus reduced him, in effect, to working by blind instinct. . . . At close range, his ancient camera yields a Venusian giantism, where sometimes sharply defined, sometimes blurred mountains of flesh loom over the artist/observer." (Parr & Badger) Perspective of Nudes is divided into six chronological sections reflecting Brandt's evolving approach, in both Kensington and Hampstead mansion flats and in open air. The early photographs "conjure a dream world of skewed perspectives [the product of the camera's wide-angle lens] in which his nude female subjects appeared to float unanchored or loom like giants." In later photos, taken on the Sussex and Normandy coasts, Brandt saw the body as a "monumental outgrowth of the landscape, serene and sculptural." (Roth 101) N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).