Aaron Siskind Photographs
First Edition, First Printing, 1959
Signed by Aaron Siskind
This is a very rare signed first edition, first printing of the Aaron Siskind’s ground breaking photobook “Aaron Siskind Photographs” published by Horizon Press, New York, in 1959. “Photographs” was Siskind’s first monograph and earned him the reputation as the pioneer of abstract expressionism in photography. Vince Aletti writing in “The Book of 101 Books: Seminal Photographic Books of the Twentieth Century”, states "...the images in Photographs are among [Siskind's] most sophisticated and deft. Working with found, often abject elements of the material and natural world--with peeling plaster, splattered tar, rust, graffiti, rocks, a curl of seaweed in the sand--[he] reduces subject matter to pure form…Minor White worried that those abstractions signaled a new pictorialism – photographs that try to do what painting does but Siskind was doing what photography does: pushing the medium forward.
Containing 50 stunning black- and- white photographs printed in folio fashion and measuring approximately 13” x 10”, the book is bound in black cloth covered boards stamped in sliver without the scarce dust jacket. The condition of the book is Very Good with fading and wear to the spine and bottom corner edges. Internally the book is in excellent condition and the plates are in exceptional condition.
The book has been signed by Aaron Siskind on the first free endpaper. Overall, this is a highly collectible copy of a ground breaking photobook that is rarely found signed.
Cited in both “The Book of 101 Books: Seminal Photographic Books of the Twentieth Century” by Andrew Roth and “The Photobook: A History” by Parr & Badger.
Photographs of the book cover, signature page, and photographs contained in the book appear below. Please note that although the photographs appear digitized as thumbnails, they are viewable in the photo viewer by running your mouse over the thumbnail. You can also click on the thumbnail to open a separate window where the picture is viewable.
