Signed; Mimmo Jodice - Mediterranean [ FIRST EDITION FIRST PRINTING ] - 1995

Excellent condition copy, exceptionally signed on the title page by Mimmo Jodice (1934 - 2025), unique and unattainable in a signed edition. 120 pages and 74 black-and-white photographs taken with a view camera and printed in very fine full-page or, for some, double-page, with English text by George Hersey and Pedrac Matvejevic. Beautiful burgundy cloth binding with the title embossed in gold on the spine and a illustrated dust jacket. Published by the prestigious American publisher Aperture. In excellent condition.

Mimmo Jodice is one of the greatest Italian photographers of the 20th century, who gained international recognition around the world. A self-taught photographer born in 1934 in Naples, he began his artistic activity in the mid-1960s, experimenting visually and creating cut-and-paste image studies, then in the 1970s moved toward social denunciation related to the miserable living conditions of Naples’ population, a lively and popular city, and in the 1980s toward an evocative silence of the metaphysical landscape and Mediterranean archaeology, with a creative language that reflects on time, light, and the act of seeing itself. Jodice has presented his work in France on several occasions, notably within the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d'Arles, as well as during a retrospective at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris in 2010 that led to the publication of a major catalogue.

Mediterranean is one of Mimmo Jodice’s most emblematic projects, realized between 1980 and 1990. Through this masterful work, the artist moves away from the social realism of his early work to explore a metaphysical dimension focused on memory, archaeology, and the narratives of ancient Mediterranean civilization. This book accompanied the initial presentation of a famous Mimmo Jodice exhibition in the United States under the same title at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. That exhibition marked the photographer from Naples’ first solo show in the United States. This American debut served as a major springboard, propelling Jodice’s work beyond European borders and permanently establishing his international reputation. It gathered photographs taken between 1990 and 1995 across archaeological sites ranging from Italy (Pompeii, Paestum, Cumae, Baiae) to France (Pont du Gard) and Greece to Jordan, Syria, Libya, and Tunisia, as well as collections from museums around the world. The photographs erase the notion of time (seasons, hours, or epochs). The ruins, marine landscapes, and carved images of antiquity seem to unfold in an abstract eternity. The American public thus discovered his landmark vintage gelatin silver prints, characterized by textured, timeless black-and-white. Through this first American showcase, Mimmo Jodice offered more than a simple documentary study of ruins. The exhibition highlighted his quest for origins through highly contrasted light-and-shadow play, plunging landscapes and statues into a mysterious, almost spectral light. The ancient marble sculptures and relics were sublimated to become “living presences,” directly linking mythological past to the spectator’s present.

Excellent condition copy, a book from my personal collection, kept with the greatest care. Highly secure packaging and guaranteed international tracking.

1.150 kg excluding packaging