THE BIRTH OF VENUS - Rare Book Insider
THE BIRTH OF VENUS

Sommer, Frederick

THE BIRTH OF VENUS

Kevin Begos Publishing, New York: 1993
Oblong folio, 3 loose leaves comprised of a title sheet, colophon, and quotation from Genesis; with five dust grain hand-pulled photogravures, made from the original negatives. Image size from 9 x 10 inches to 9 1/2 x 11 inches, mounted on archival boards 15 1/4 x 13 1/2 inches. Laid into a cloth clamshell portfolio with paper label. Fine. This is the first endeavor into photogravure prints by Frederick Sommer: they are collages from anatomical engravings; they are both eerie and lush. Each print is SIGNED and numbered by the artist and limited to 95 portfolios plus proofs; this is portfolio no. 3.
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UNTITLED GELATIN SILVER PRINT

UNTITLED GELATIN SILVER PRINT

Chappell, Walter Vintage gelatin silver photograph 7 3/8 x 9 3/16 inches [18.54 x 23.34 cm.] The verso bears the printed label of the Carl Siembab Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts, which reads, " Walter Chapel Photograph/ Please return the Print to Gallery." Written in the photographer's distinctive hand, " Return to Walter Chappell, For one-time Repro only, 1958." A fine print. Walter Chappell (1925 - 2000) was affiliated with a long list of noted American photographers: Edward Weston, Alfred Stieglitz, Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Paul Caponigro, Carl Chiarenza, et al. His association with Minor White, as a student, coworker at the George Eastman House, and with Aperture Magazine was one of his most enduring. He was represented by the Carl Siembab Gallery, one of the first galleries devoted solely to photography. In the early 1960s, the home he shared with his wife, the painter, Nancy Barrett Dickinson, was destroyed by fire, taking most of his negatives and prints. Photographs made prior to the fire are rare. This photograph was reproduced as plate XXXVI, the final image in, UNDER THE SUN: The Abstract Art of Camera Vision, By Nathan Lyons, Syl Labrot, Walter Chappell. New York: George Braziller, Inc., 1960. "Chappell's Plate XXXVI suggests a galaxy in colliding upsweep. Whatever the photographic source, he has swirled a majestic rhythm of purest spontaneity." Barbara Morgan, 5 REVIEWS OF "UNDER THE SUN", Aperture, Volume 8, N0. 4, 1960.