Arcana:

(BRODOVITCH, ALEXEY). Brodovitch, Alexey & Edwin Denby. Editors: Nina Holland & Joshua Chuang, Editors. Göttingen, GERMANY: Little Steidl, I00241113. 1945 (2024). First Edition Thus. Oblong 4to. Boards in Dust Jacket, Boxed. Photography Monograph. New/New. 9783944630076

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16pp + 144pp, 105 five-tone illustrations. Text in English. Designed by Alexey Brodovitch. "Ballet" is renowned late graphic designer Alexey Brodovitch's iconic 1945 book of photographic vignettes capturing eleven performances by The Ballets Russes between 1935 and 1937. Noted for the innovative-at-the-time use of murky shadows and blurred dancers bathed in light, these arresting images of the likes of principals Leonide Massine, Tamara Toumanova, Irina Baronova, and more are accompanied by New York poet and dance critic Edwin Denby's brief but cogent text. On the eve of the eightieth anniversary of the publication of "Ballet", esteemed publisher Little Steidl’s reissue brings Brodovitch’s masterpiece back to life in all its material intensity with an experimental five-tone printing method developed specially for the project. The bespoke technique, which pushes the technical limits of offset-lithography to extremes, was developed and carried out by Nina Holland with the intention of reanimating not only the visual intensity of the 1945 edition, but also the risk and spontaneity of Brodovitch’s experiment. In a separate booklet accompanying the reissue, Holland and co-editor Joshua Chuang deliver a previously unknown story about the 1945 production – drawn from their forensic study of the original edition – that suggests Brodovitch’s artistic achievement should be viewed not just as one of the highlights, but as a singularly radical work in the history of the photographic book and printing. A brand new example of the meticulously recreated 2024 Little Steidl limited edition (whose 1945 first edition is cited on pages 240-241 of Martin Parr and Gerry Badger's "The Photobook: A History Volume I, pages 136-137 of The Hassleblad Center's "The Open Book: A History of the Photographic Book from 1878 to the Present", and pages 110-113 of "The Book of 101 Books") in the publisher's shipping carton.

Inventory Number: I00241016