BLACKFACE - Rare Pristine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing: Signed by David Levinthal - SIGNED ON THE TITLE PAGE

Levinthal, David (Photographer) & Diawara, Manthia (Contributor)

ISBN 10: 1892041065 / ISBN 13: 9781892041067

Published by Santa Fe, NM: Arena Editions, 1999, 1999

About this Item

1st Printing. Signed. 156 pages. Published in 1999. Landmark collection of photographs on subject. One of the most important photography books of our time. The First Hardcover Edition. Published in a small and limited print run as a hardcover original only that was not reissued once all of the copies were sold. The First Edition is now scarce. A brilliant production by David Levinthal and James Crump: Oversize-volume format. Black cloth boards with titles embossed on cover and spine, as issued. Photographs by David Levinthal. Essay by Manthia Diawara. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper in Italy to the highest standards. The reproduction quality is exemplary in every respect. In pictorial DJ with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Presents David Levinthal's "Blackface". Photographs of his racist toy collection. Like his other collections built around compelling themes (politics, sex, right-wing ideology, anti-Semitism), "Blackface" tells a riveting photo-narrative. Photographing his toy artifacts is an artistic strategy that is now identified with the artist. Levinthal is a collector twice over: First, of vintage toys, which are valuable in and of themselves (Levinthal's photographs would not have the same power if the toys were new or merely replicas, therefore not collectible). Second, of images by their photographer/collector, who deploys a highly developed technique that enables him to make the toys come, disturbingly, to life. As such, Levinthal's body of work is ultimately about aesthetics versus ethics, the paradox of the aesthetically pleasing photograph (which seduces) despite its ethically horrific subject (which repels). The photographs are beautiful, which is not the same thing as saying they glorify their subject. They do not. Instead, their beauty paradoxically makes us more aware of the period in American history when racism was so pervasive that it turned an innocent object, a child's toy, into a racist souvenir. Levinthal does not hesitate to make a "statement", but he does so with subtlety. And surely he never imagined that less than a decade after the publication of his book, America would vote the first African-American President into office. That this fact would lead to a huge backlash, the most virulent resurgence of racism ("Blackface" = Barack Obama) in recent history proves that racism is alive and well in America. An absolute "must-have" title for David Levinthal collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the half-title page by David Levinthal. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary art photography classic. 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. A rare signed copy thus. 98 color plates. One of the greatest photographers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER DAVID LEVINTHAL TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 1892041065. Seller Inventory # 16532

Bibliographic Details

Title: BLACKFACE - Rare Pristine Copy of The First ...

Publisher: Santa Fe, NM: Arena Editions, 1999

Publication Date: 1999

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: As New

Dust Jacket Condition: As New

Signed: Signed by Author

Edition: 1st Edition.

About this title

Synopsis:

Of all of David Levinthal's series of photographs, none is more challenging and provocative than his "Blackface" series, created over the previous three years. In his blow-up images of miniature toys he has recreated scenes of racism, genocide, and sexual fantasies. This series explores the Blackface myth embodied in "black memorabilia," household objects infused with African-American stereotypes. These images make the Blackface myth speak to us directly, without an intermediary, and demand a response from us regardless of our race, age, or gender. Levinthal's "Blackface" images present a paradox, one that pits the beauty of photographic representation against the racism underscored by these ignoble objects. Magnified with a 20 x 24 inch Polaroid camera, the "Blackface" pictures explore viewer subjectivity and question the manufacture and popularity of "black memorabilia," particularly the recent resurgence of their collectibility among African Americans. The photographs are accompanied by an in-depth essay by noted writer, critic, and filmmaker Manthia Diawara, an expert on the representation of African Americans in film, photography and popular media. This book promises to make a significant contribution to contemporary African-American studies.

About the Author:

Manthia Diawara is the director of Africana Studies at New York University.