John Gutmann - The Photographer At Work (SUPER FRESH COPY) - 2011

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FANTASTIC MONOGRAPH by widely unknown, but great German-born American photographer John Gutmann (1905-1998) - in EXCELLENT, LIKE NEW AND UNREAD CONDITION.

"John Gutmann is best known for his photographs from the 1930s, which document urban life during the Great Depression while remaining distinct from the social documentary photography of the period.
Gutmann was born into a well-to-do Jewish family in Breslau, where he was introduced to the arts at an early age. He studied painting at the State Academy of Art and Applied Arts in Breslau under the Expressionist Otto Mueller. After completing his first degree in 1927, he studied philosophy and art history at the University of Breslau before moving to Berlin, where he continued and completed his education at institutions including the Friedrich Wilhelm University and the Prussian Academy of Arts."
(Wikipedia)

Published on the occasion at the major retrospective exhibition at "Fundación Mapfre" in Madrid in 2011.

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Fundación Mapfre, Madrid. 2011. First edition, first printing.

Hardcover in half linen (as issued). 245 x 310 mm. 224 pages. Photos: John Gutmann. Foreword: Douglas R. Nickel. Text: Sally Stein. Essay: Amy Rule. Text in Spanish.

Condition:
Inside new, mint, unread. Outside very fresh; slightest trace of use, no remarkable flaws or defects. Overall near mint, near perfect condition.

Fantastic photobook by John Gutmann - in wonderful fresh and flawless condition.

"Just as he was beginning to establish himself as a painter, the Nazi seizure of power in 1933 dramatically altered the course of his life. As a Jew, he lost his teaching position and decided to emigrate to the United States. On the advice of a friend, he settled in San Francisco. Unsure whether he could make a living as a painter in America, Gutmann chose instead to become a press photographer. He purchased a Rolleiflex camera, taught himself photography as an autodidact, and entered into a contract with the Berlin press agency Foto-Presse to work as its photographer in the United States. He then embarked on the sea voyage to San Francisco, arriving there in late 1933.
Throughout the 1930s, Gutmann worked primarily as a press photographer for magazines—until 1936 for Foto-Presse—without considering himself an artist. His photographs from this period reflect both his academic training, evident in their careful composition, unusual perspectives, and unconventional subject matter, and the viewpoint of an outsider who was simultaneously fascinated by and estranged from American society and culture. His work differed significantly from the social documentary photography of the era, much of which was funded through the Farm Security Administration as part of the New Deal.
When Gutmann photographed people, he rarely focused on victims of poverty or hardship. Instead, he portrayed individuals who, even during the Great Depression, remained engaged in public life and sought enjoyment. His subjects frequently included young women and members of ethnic minority communities. He also developed a particular interest in the visual culture of the street, especially automobiles, traffic signs, and graffiti, which became recurring motifs in his work.
In 1937, on assignment for the New York photo agency Pix Inc., Gutmann traveled across the United States, documenting subjects including Mardi Gras in New Orleans and automobile culture in Chicago. The following year, his first solo exhibition, Colorful America, was presented at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. Beginning in 1938, he taught painting, drawing, and art history at San Francisco State College.
During the Second World War, Gutmann served with the U.S. Army Signal Corps and the Office of War Information. Working as both a photographer and cinematographer, he documented military operations in Southeast Asia. In 1947, he exhibited photographs from this period at the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum.
After the war, Gutmann resumed teaching at San Francisco State College, where he remained until his retirement in 1973. In 1946, he established a program in Creative Photography, one of the first university-level programs of its kind in the United States. He also founded the film series Art Movies, which presented documentary, experimental, and historical short films. At the same time, he resumed working for Pix Inc., and his photographs appeared for many years in Look, Time, Life, and numerous other American and international magazines.
Despite his professional success, Gutmann's photography from the 1930s remained largely overlooked for decades. Only after his retirement was he able, in 1974, to organize an exhibition of one hundred photographs from that period at a New York gallery. The exhibition sparked a renewed appreciation of his work and was followed in 1976 by the exhibition As I Saw It at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. From then on, his photographs were regularly featured in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and Europe.
Even into his eighties, Gutmann continued to photograph. His 1987 series Signals demonstrated his enduring fascination with signs and graffiti. The photographs depict letters, numbers, and fragments of words isolated against black backgrounds.
John Gutmann married the painter Gerrie von Pribosic in 1949. The couple had no children. He died in San Francisco in June 1998 at the age of 93."
(Wikipedia)