JOSEF SUDEK: JANACEK: HUKVALDY

Prague, Czech Republic: Supraphon Praha, 1971. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. Prague, Czech Republic: Supraphon Praha, 1971. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 132 pages. Retrospective collection of photographs. The first and only edition. Published in a small and limited print run as a hardcover original only. There is no ISBN. The First Edition is now rare. An austerely elegant production by Josef Sudek: Oversize-volume format. White cloth boards with gilt titles embossed on cover and spine, as issued. Photographs by Josef Sudek. Essay by Jaroslav Seda, with felicitous translations in German and English. Printed in gravure on thick uncoated stock paper in Prague to the highest standards. The reproduction quality is outstanding in every respect. Handmade black cloth slipcase. In pictorial DJ with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Presents Josef Sudek's "Janacek: Hukvaldy". Imperishable images. If photography was his obsession, Classical music was Sudek's passion. He owned a legendary collection of vinyl records that he somehow amassed despite his relative poverty during the Communist Era. The photographs of Hukvaldy's natural beauty as well as the "Leos Janacek Historical Sites" (the composer's home and immediate surroundings) are outwardly, an homage to the music of the greatest Czech composer of the 20th century, who was born, drew inspiration from, and died in Hukvaldy. Inwardly, these photographs are expressive portraits of Sudek's inner peace and reconciliation, which parallels Robert Frank's use of street photography to express his inner turmoil. Whereas Frank is a full-fledged Modernist, it is more accurate to describe Sudek as a "Modern Romantic", as the bridge-figure between photography's Pictorialist beginnings and its Modernist maturity. "As soon as he saw the beautiful countryside of Hukvaldy, he knew it was Janacek's music in visual form: A hymn to Eternity" (Jaroslav Seda). Janacek is now considered the equal of Claude Debussy, Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky, and Bela Bartok. As such, Sudek's homage to Janacek is a unique event in music and photography: You will linger upon each page whereas you tend to skim through the pages of photography books being cranked out today. Tarry as much as you like, gently caress each page, and take it all in, because what you hold in your hands is an immersive masterpiece. An absolute "must-have" title for Josef Sudek collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed, dated, and inscribed in blue ink-pen on the half-title page by the photographer: "[Inscription in Czech to the recipient, who is named], Sudek 27.VIII. 76". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. Eighty years old at the time, Sudek died on September 15, 1976, eighteen days after he signed and dated this copy. As such, it is possibly the last copy he signed. This title is a great book. As far as we know, this is the only such signed, dated, and inscribed copy (with handmade slipcase) of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and despite its imperfection (slight wear on the DJ corners) is still in especially fine condition: Every single internal page is clean, crisp, and bright. The easily soiled white cloth boards are pristine, NO bumping at all. A rare signed copy thus. 124 gravure plates. One of the greatest photographers of the 20th century. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER JOSEF SUDEK TITLES IN OUR CATALOG).