Ica Vilander - Akt Apart - 1967

BRILLIANT FIRST PHOTOBOOK by German photographer Ica Vilander (1921-2013), who has unfortunately been forgotten. In 1969, the news magazine "Der Spiegel" described her as “Germany’s most famous nude photographer.”

WIDELY UNKNOWN AND HIGHLY UNDERRATED NUDE PHOTOBOOK CLASSIC OF THE 60ties.

RARE TRUE FIRST FRENCH PRINTING (also an Italian and a German edition was published same time).

WITH ORIGINAL DUSTJACKET (Ica Vilander was also responsible for the design of the book and of the dustjacket)

After the tremendous success of the first auction, 5Uhr30.com (Ecki Heuser, Cologne) now proudly presents the second edition of “Masters of Erotic Photobooks" on Catawiki.
Enjoy another highly personal selection of books dedicated to eroticism in all its beautiful facets - drawn from my private library and from various acquisitions over the past years.
A toast to love, passion, and desire!

Ica Vilander is also known for "Akt Abstrakt" (1968), "Akt Adonis" (1969) and "Vive le sex" (1970, Alessandro Bertolotti, Book of Nudes, page 203).

5Uhr30.com guarantees detailed and accurate descriptions, 100% protection,
100% insurance and combined shipping worldwide.

Hieronimi, Bonn. 1967. First German edition, first printing.

Hardcover with dustjacket. 260 x 260 mm. 124 pages. Black and white photography throughout. Photos: Ica Vilander. Foreword: Cecil Saint-Laurent. Text in German.

Condition:
Book inside and outside excellent, fresh and flawless; clean with no marks and with no foxing. Dustjacket quite fresh and complete with no missing parts; trace of use, some tears (partly acid-free taped from behind), some creases. Overall fine condition.

The first German edition was published with different dustjacket design same year like the first French edition ("Une femme vue par une femme", Editions de la Table Ronde, Paris) and one year after the first Italian edition ("La donna vista da una donna", Edizioni Dellavalle, Turin); inside all editions are identical in size, layout and content.

"After completing an apprenticeship in photography, Ica Vilander lived in Berlin from 1944 onward. She began studying at the Berlin University of the Arts under Heinz Hajek-Halke, focusing on graphic design and experimental photography. From 1959 onwards, her first publications appeared, including journalistic, study-like pieces in the youth magazine TWEN—such as those about the cabaret artist Wolfgang Neuss (8/1962) and, about Vilander herself, the photo essay “My Grandma Photographs Nudes” (4/1967). The essay was inspired by her lifestyle, which came to represent the model of a life-loving and unconventional woman. At the time, she lived in close community with the hippie family of her son Helge. The gallerist Franz Dahlem was at times her assistant and lover.
Ica Vilander inspired Werner Klett to make the film The Eyes of Ica Vilander (1968) and was involved in the feature film Exercises with Performers (1968) by Werner Schroeter. Her photographic works also appear as inserts in Herbert Vesely’s film The Bread of Those Early Years (1962), based on the novel by Heinrich Böll. She designed book covers for the publishing houses Rowohlt and Heyne. From 1980 onward, she withdrew completely from public life.
Original works by her are rare; much has been destroyed and can now only be seen as reproductions in TWEN or in her books akt apart, La femme vue par une femme (1967), akt abstrakt (1968), akt adonis (1969), and vive le sex (1970).
Vilander photographed, among others, Hildegard Knef, Helene Weigel, Gregory Corso, Maurice Béjart, and Sidney Poitier. She also gained international attention with her nude photography. In 1969, the news magazine Der Spiegel described her as “Germany’s most famous nude photographer.”
(Wikipedia)