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Schles, Ken (Photographer); Calvino, Italo; Ellison, Ralph & Kafka, Franz (Contributions) : The Geometry Of Innocence: The Limited Edition

Hatje Cantz Publishers, Ostfildern-ruit, Germany, 2001

ISBN 3775710116

First Edition / First Printing. As New in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 128 pages. Collection of photographs. Now considered a contemporary art photography classic. Limited Slipcased Edition of 50 copies. Precedes, is superior to, and should not be confused with the regular trade edition. They have the same ISBN. The Limited Edition is now rare. A brilliant production by Ken Schles: Oversize-volume format. Black cloth boards with black titles embossed on the spine, as issued. Photographs and Manifesto/Essay by Ken Schles. The title comes from the lyrics of Bob Dylan's "Tombstone Blues". Text fragments by Franz Kafka, Ralph Ellison, Walter Lippmann, and Italo Calvino. Original 8 X 10 inch photographic print matted, framed, and laid into its own black cloth folder. Matching black cloth slipcase. Printed on pristine-white, thick, glossy stock paper in Germany to the highest standards. Presents Ken Schles' "The Geometry of Innocence". His ambitious second collection. There is something disturbing and uncompromising about each image, by itself and in the context of the collection's relentlessness. Schles' point is that we should not be distracted, but instead be completely immersed. If "Invisible City" is inward-looking, "The Geometry of Innocence" looks outward, at the larger world, and sees both good and bad, cause for hope, and reason for despair. Schles also has a didactic purpose, articulated in his Manifesto/Essay, which is "must-reading" for anyone uncritically enamored of photography (this includes many serious photographers and critics). While his essay is critical about photography, Schles is obviously not against photography. Indeed, the latter stance would be self-defeating because even the most subversive, "anti-photographic" photograph can be easily coopted by the system to reinforce unjust social structures and feed an insatiable and corrupt mass culture. Instead, he is for a photography that somehow retains its subversive power and empowers people given the fact that "we are formed by a flawed society. Yet, however boldly or tenuously we engage our lives, we love, we hate, we struggle" (Ken Schles). An absolute "must-have" title for Ken Schles collectors. This copy is one of the Limited Slipcased Edition of 50 copies, indicated/numbered as such on the Back Copyright Page. It comes with an 8 X 10 inch original photographic print that is very prominently and beautifully numbered, titled, and signed in pencil on verso by the photographer: "Ken Schles The End of the World From The Geometry of Innocence 43/50". This title is a contemporary art photography classic. This is one of few copies of the Limited Edition still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, which are publisher's flaws rather than caused by handling or use. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. 106 color, 87 duotone plates, 1 original print. One of the most brilliant photographers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER KEN SCHLES TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 3775710116.

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