Joel-Peter Witkin - Joel-Peter Witkin - 1989

After the big success of the first two auctions, 5Uhr30.com (Ecki Heuser, Cologne) now proudly presents the third and last edition for this year of “Masters of Erotic Photobooks".

Enjoy another very 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.

GREAT JOEL-PETER WITKIN TITLE - in VERY FRESH CONDITION.

RARE.

Published on the occasion of the exhibition "Joel-Peter Witkin" at "Forum Bottcherstrasse, Bremen" in Germany in 1989, organized by the "Ministry of Culture" in Madrid. The exhibition was also shown before at "Centro de Arte Reina Sofia" and at "Centre National de la Photographie/Palais de Tokyo" in Paris.

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Ministerio de Cultura Spain, Dirección General de Bellas Artes y Archivos, Centro Nacional de Exposiciones. 1989. First German edition, first printing.

Hardcover in linen (as issued). 220 x 215 mm. 120 pages. 46 total four-color plates (including 14 plates with 63 four-color reproductions comprising the checklist of the exhibition). Fine paper stock with translucent pages, which overlay most of the plates. Photographs, drawings (studies) and collages by Joel-Peter Witkin. Graphic design: d.C. Diseño. Text by Alain Dupuy, Antonio Saura and Joel-Peter Witkin. Foreword: Wolfgang Stemmer. Includes an illustrated exhibition checklist, list of collections, selected exhibition history and bibliography. Text in German.

Condition:
Inside excellent, very fresh and flawless; clean with no previous owner marks and with no foxing. Outside quite fresh and well preserved; little trace of use. Inside very fine, outside fine condition, overall fine condition.

A beautifully designed and produced catalogue book of Joel-Peter Witkin's work - in great condition.

To emancipate oneself from the tutelage of the elders, one must first have known them and, better still, have known how to make the most of their teachings. Artistic legacies are not dishonourable: learn composition, perspective, detail, technique, and discover the state of grace, the ineffable. Joel-Peter Witkin acknowledges that he owes his creative freedom not only to himself and his own restlessness. He also owes it to August Sander, Weegee, Diane Arbus, Roger Fenton, Lewis Carroll and others who were able to confront their inhibitions, to free themselves from moral or social prohibitions, to make their own way in photography and to be bold. He assumes his admirations, his visual joys, as well as the emulations aroused by masters or anonymous colleagues. While his capacity for absorption allows him to absorb their successes, the significance of his own quest pushes him to create new resonances. His work is the result of the maintenance and development of what precedes it, the transmutation of emotions and thoughts, and their original symbiosis in his visionary universe. Knowing his ancestry does not prevent him from transcending his heritage or making it bear fruit.
Joel-Peter Witkin is continually nourished by art and images of all kinds, sources of inspiration and even borrowings. His culture of the visual arts is not only the result of contemplating authentic works, but also of discovering printed reproductions in books, magazines, newspapers and other editorial media. As a photographer, he is impressed, depending on the occasion, sometimes by original period prints, sometimes by modern exhibition or work prints, sometimes by published photographs. He knows that he owes as much to books as to museums. And he knows how to use his discernment to serve his purpose.