WILHELM VON GLOEDEN: TAORMINA

Pasadena, CA: Twelvetress Press, 1986. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/No Dust Jacket, As Issued.. Pasadena, CA: Twelvetress Press, 1986. Hardcover. Fine/None, As Issued. First Edition/First Printing. 102 pages. Retrospective collection of male nudes. One of the best books on the art and achievement of Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden. Promotional/"Not For Sale" copy of the First Limited Edition of 5000 copies. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, of which there are several. The First Limited Edition is now rare. An austerely elegant production by Jack Woody: Oversize-volume format. Cloth boards with titles embossed on the cover and spine, as issued. Photographs by Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden. Essay by Roland Barthes. Printed on thick, uncoated Natural Vellum Starwhite Vicksburg Cover stock paper in Pasadena, California to the highest standards. The reproduction quality is outstanding in every respect. In publisher's protective plastic wrappers. Without DJ, as issued. Please note: The regular Limited Edition was issued with a DJ. Presents "Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden: Taormina". His ground-breaking and influential photographs, taken between 1895 and 1903. Von Gloeden's work is fixed in the popular imagination as an evocation of earthly paradise, made up of naked boys, ancient ruins, and majestic landscapes. Barthes speaks of his work as a "carnival of contradictions", and therein lies its enduring interest. He combined Greek landscape, Roman statuary, Beaux Arts painting, and then chose boys with dark skin and features as his models, a subversive notion in both the Graeco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian traditions, where the ideal male figure is lily-white. Known for his rarefied taste, Barthes nevertheless found himself irresistibly drawn to this intuitively innovative "pastiche" artist because unlike the Marquis de Sade and other transcendent sensualists, Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden's blend of Naturalism and Classicism was ahead of its time without being self-consciously so, "without his having to think about it". Despite a difficult life that saw wild fluctuations in his personal fortunes, von Gloeden has persisted and influenced major 20th-century artists and photographers in successive waves: First, his contemporaries, Baron Guglielmo von Pluschow, Vincenzo Galdi, and Pancrazio Bucini; the second wave, Herbert List; the third, Robert Mapplethorpe and Joel-Peter Witkin, who both championed the work by doing "hommage" versions; the fourth, Herb Ritts and Bruce Weber, whose idealizing male nudes are von Gloeden contemporized; and the current fifth wave, Nino Longobardi's collage art and the male nude paintings of Marlene Dumas. Jonathan Turner rounds out a century of continuing relevance by pointing to an incredibly diverse constellation of artists that include Wolfgang Tillmans, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Pierre et Gilles, and John Dugdale. An absolute "must-have" title for Wilhelm von Gloeden collectors. This is a Promotional/"Not For Sale" Copy, issued without a DJ. This title is a great erotic art photography book. This is one of few copies of the First Limited Edition still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: The regular Limited Edition was issued with a DJ. Copies available online have very serious flaws because they have been pored over or are subsequent editions. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. 92 color plates. One of the greatest photographers of the male nude of the 20th century. A fine collectible copy. . ISBN 0942642228.