Wolfgang Tillmans - Concorde - 1997

Concorde by Wolfgang Tillmans, 1997, published by Walther Konig, Cologne. First edition.

This rare first edition of Wolfgang Tillmans' iconic art book features sixty-two color photographs of the supersonic aircraft Concorde, an icon of 20th-century progress. As Parr and Badger note: "One of the most interesting challenges photographers can set for themselves is to see how much the main element of the image can be minimized or considered insignificant within the frame... Is it a bird or a plane?"
Tillmans reproduced this unique folk custom from the late 20th century in Concorde, by lifting his eyes and snatching some images when Concorde flew overhead. He did this more often than not when he was parked on the ground in one of London's endless outer suburbs surrounding Heathrow Airport, so his book is not only a tribute to an extraordinary machine; it also speaks of dreams and the psychological power of flight, of the difference between desire and reality. The more soulless and dull the suburb seen in one of Tillmans's small sequences of images, the stronger the attraction of the Concorde talisman, and the more its ability to carry us away from the gloom of reality to a realm of fantasy and dreams. According to photographer Wolfgang Tillmans, 'For a select few, flying aboard the Concorde is apparently a glamorous but cramped and slightly boring routine, while seeing it in flight, landing, or taking off is a strange and free spectacle, an ultra-modern anachronism and an image of the desire to transcend time and distance through technology.'

Original edition 'Concorde' by Wolfgang Tillmans, 128 pages, soft cover, published in 1997 by Walther Konig in Cologne.
This first edition was published for the exhibition 'I didn't inhale' by Wolfgang Tillmans at the Chisenhale Gallery, London, 1997.

In excellent condition. Note a small mark on the cover at the top left, visible in the photos.