RAY K. METZKER: AUTOMAGIC: THE LIMITED EDITION

Berlin, Germany: Only Photography, 2009. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. Berlin, Germany: Only Photography, 2009. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 120 pages. Retrospective collection of photographs. One of the most beautiful art photography books of our time. Limited Edition of 500 numbered and signed copies. Published as a hardcover original only. The Limited Edition is now scarce. A brilliant production by Roland Angst: Oversize-volume format. Purple cloth boards with gray titles embossed on cover and spine, as issued. Photographs by Ray K. Metzker. Preface by Roland Angst in the German original and felicitous English trasnlation. Essay by David Travis in the English original and German translation. Biography and List of Plates (with matching thumbnail reproductions) appended at the end. Printed in tritone by Medialis Offsetdruck GmbH Berlin on pristine-white, thick uncoated stock paper to the highest standards. The reproduction quality is outstanding in every respect. In pristine-white DJ, with a sleek, semi-abstract automobile silhouette-design embossed on the cover, and black titles printed on the cover and spine, as issued. Presents, in its Limited Edition format, Ray K. Metzker's "AutoMagic". For our money, the single most beautifully produced book on the austere and elegant photographic art of Ray K. Metzker, devoted exclusively to the number-one American obsession, the car. Which, as J. G. Ballard (in his great novel, "Crash") once pointed out, is both the dangerous substitute and the perfect venue for sex. In hindsight, the car is also the ideal subject for Metzker's Modernist, "chiaroscuro" aesthetics and brilliant eye (the automobile appears in almost all of his books, notably "City Stills" and "Light Lines") . Rigorous and tightly focussed, "AutoMagic" showcases the enigmatic beauty, formal elegance, and quiet desperation that are Metzker trademarks. A unique cumulative visual experience, each image in this book nevertheless speaks for itself. "For me, to photograph is to wander with camera in hand, looking at everything along the way. What ultimately gives meaning and satisfaction to this act is discovering something I had not known, seen, or felt before" (Ray K. Metzker) . An absolute "must-have" title for Ray K. Metzker collectors. This is a copy of the Limited Edition of 500 numbered and signed copies, indicated/numbered as such on the Back Limitation Page. It is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black pen-marker by Ray K. Metzker. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a great art photography book. This is one of few copies of the Limited Edition still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: There is a Deluxe Edition (with print) , available exclusively from the publisher for about $5000, rightly so. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. 79 tritone plates. One of the greatest photographers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER RAY K. METZKER TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 398125371X.