Herbert List - Rom - 1964

VERY BEAUTIFUL, WIDELY UNKNOWN and UNDERRATED publication by genious German photographer Herbert List (1903-1975), who worked for magazines, including Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and Life and was associated with Magnum Photos.

Showing all the famous Herbert List photos from Rome.

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Hanns Reich Verlag, Munich. 1964.
First edition, sixth printing (identical with the first printing from 1955).

Hardcover (as issued). 225 x 285 mm. 108 pages (15 pages with text). 83 photos. Photos: Herbert List. Introduction and text: Hans Mollier. Text in German.

Condition:
Interior clean and free of foxing; on the front pages an ex-library stamp, and at the bottom right corner of the last page the typical small, firmly affixed library pocket. The cover (as well as the pages) is slightly bumped at the lower spine (not severe), and the cover is fully laminated with a firmly bonded transparent film. Overall good condition.

Fantastic early photobook by Herbert List.

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Herbert List's austere, classically-posed black-and-white compositions, particularly of male nudes, taken in Italy and Greece have been highly formative for modern photography, with contemporary fashion photographers like Herb Ritts being clearly influenced by List's style. He is also noted for his erotic street photography. Herbert List was born in 1903 to a prosperous business family in Hamburg, the son of Luise and Felix List. He attended the Johanneum Gymnasium, and afterwards studied literature at the University of Heidelberg. While still a student he became apprenticed to his family coffee company. From 1924 to 1928 List continued to work at the company and to travel to Brazil, Guatemala, Costa Rica and elsewhere. During this time he began taking photographs. In 1930 he met photographer Andreas Feininger, who introduced him to the Rolleiflex camera. He began taking portraits of friends and shooting still lifes, influenced by the Bauhaus and surrealist movements. He used male models, draped fabric and masks along with double-exposures. He has explained that his photos were composed "visions where [my] arrangements try to capture the magical essence inhabiting and animating the world of appearances.”
In 1936 List left Germany and took up photography as a profession, working in Paris and London.

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