NAARASHAUKI: THE FEMALE PIKE

Oulu, Finland: Kaleva Kustannus Oy/Esko Mannikko, 2000. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. As New/No Dust Jacket, As Issued.. Oulu, Finland: Kaleva Kustannus Oy/Esko Mannikko, 2000. Hardcover. As New/None, As Issued. First Edition/First Printing. 144 pages. Retrospective collection of color photographs. One of the greatest art photography books of our time. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only that sold out shortly after publication. The First Edition is now rare. An austerely elegant production by Esko Mannikko and Petri Kuokka: Oversize-volume format. Maroon leatherette pictorial hard boards with photographic reproduction pasted on the cover and pale gray titles embossed on the cover and spine, as issued. Photographs and text by Esko Mannikko. Printed on pristine-white, thick uncoated stock paper in Finland to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Presents Esko Mannikko's "Naarashauki: The Female Pike". Austerely yet breathtakingly beautiful photographs of his native Finland, a dying rural Finland kept defiantly alive by Esko Mannikko's artistry. Mannikko's lifelong subject, the decline of rural Finland, that is to say, the decline of agrarian life, is off-putting, even depressing, something people say they do not want in their lives, as if it were ugly or toxic (an accusation that the American writer Annie Proulx had to endure as well). This is ironic because Mannikko's work breathes whereas most contemporary art and photography are lifeless exercises in Mannerist cleverness. Mannikko is a Classicist, a rarity in our shallow "post-modern" art world. It is important to be reminded that in a world saturated and choking with derivative images from glossy magazines, he is The Real Thing: A great artist. His impeccable compositional sense and formalist use of color as well as his aesthetic rigor and faultless eye are not just "world-class"; they set Mannikko apart from other living photographers, and make him an artist in a class of his own. An absolute "must-have" title for Esko Mannikko collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Esko Mannikko. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a great art photography book. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies of the true first (and even subsequent editions) available online command up to $800. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. 108 color plates. Esko Mannikko's "Naarashauki: The Female Pike" was selected as one of the greatest photography books in "The Photobook". One of the greatest photographers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER ESKO MANNIKKO TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 9529127456.