Recollections. Ten Women of Photography
New York: Viking Press, 1979. 1st Edition. Quarto, publisher's black cloth, spine stamped in silver, upper board blind stamped, gray endpapers, original printed dust jacket.
Presentation copy first edition photobook featuring work by ten leading women photographers, inscribed by multiple contributors and other photography luminaries to early photo gallerist Marjorie Neikrug. The volume was published to accompany a now-legendary exhibit held at the International Center of Photography curated by Margaretta Mitchell and held at the International Center of Photography showcasing selected work by Berenice Abbott, Ruth Bernhard, Carlotta M. Corpron, Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Nell Dorr, Toni Frissell, Laura Gilpin, Lotte Jacobi, Consuelo Kanaga, and Barbara Morgan. Mitchell writes in her introduction that her intention in putting together ICP's first feminist show was to "redress the balance by reviewing the lives and works of women whose contribution to the history of photography has not yet been fully recognized." The collection contains black-and-whote plates of twenty images by each contributor, and includes a portrait of each, accompanied by artist’s statements, brief bios, and selected bibliographies. Signed or inscribed by eight figures, as follows: front endpaper signed by contributor Corpron and New York Times photo critic Gene Thornton; half-title inscribed by Jacobi, Dahl-Wolfe, Morgan, and Bernhard, and signed by famed Hungarian-French photographer Brassaï and ICP founder Cornell Capa. Notably, Neikrug, who is considered instrumental in helping to elevate photography to a serious art form in the minds of collectors, transitioned from Pre-Columbian art to photography after meeting Capa in Mexico. This copy appears to have been signed at the special preview of the exhibition on September 20, 1979, as most of the included photographers were in attendance and Brassaï was visiting New York for a retrospective of his own work held at Marlborough Gallery. Dust jacket designed by documentary filmmaker and graphic designer Gael Towey Dillon. Minor stain to upper board; some soiling and edgewear to unclipped dust jacket, with one small closed tear to top edge of upper panel and vertical creases near flap folds from having been misfolded. Withal, a near fine association copy, with numerous signatures of major figures in 20th-century photography. Item #5448
$840.00