KENNETH JOSEPHSON: THE BREAD BOOK: THE 2016 LIMITED EDITION - Rare Pristine Copy of The Limited Edition: Specially Signed In Gold Pen-Marker by Kenneth Josephson - ONLY SUCH SIGNED COPY ONLINE

Josephson, Kenneth

ISBN 10: 1477312005 / ISBN 13: 9781477312001

Published by Austin, TX: University Of Texas Press, 2016, 2016

About this Item

1st Printing. Signed. 20 pages. Published in 2016. Collection of photographs, conceived as an Artist Book that then helped pave the way for a whole new photographic genre. Namely, the photobook. One of the pioneering and ground-breaking photobooks of our time, in a splendid New Edition. Limited Edition of 250 signed copies. Published as a softcover original only that was not reissued once all of the copies were sold. An austerely elegant production by Kenneth Josephson and Only Photography Press: Regular-sized volume format. Pictorial softcovers with titles on the cover, as issued. Photographs by Kenneth Josephson. There is no text. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper in Berlin, Germany to the highest standards. The photographer himself has stated that the production quality is significantly better than the original edition in the way that it captures the subtleties of visual tone. Which, of course, is the whole point of the book. Without DJ, as issued. Re-presents, in a Limited Edition format, Kenneth Josephson's "The Bread Book". Pioneering Conceptual art photography at its Minimalist best, long before Minimalism itself became the dominant Movement of our time. "A deceptively simple object - photographs of the fronts and backs of ten slices of bread with no accompanying text - this Artist Book raises questions about the nature of photography and its ability to transform an object into an idea or concept while creating yet another object. The result of this act of transformation is that the original loaf no longer functions as a loaf of bread, but as a self-contained book that considers the ideas of sequence and illusion" (Publisher's blurb). Its achievement still needs to be clarified: "The Bread Book" precedes and anticipates what has developed into what is now a full-fledged photographic genre, in and of itself: The photobook. That is to say, an art book can never ever be a genre in a way that the photobook - as opposed to the photograph or a regular photography book - is and has become. Originally published in an edition of 1800 copies, "The Bread Book" has been out-of-print for a long time. Here it is, in a definitive production that Kenneth Josephson himself regards as superior to the original. An absolute "must-have" title for Kenneth Josephson collectors. This is a copy of the Limited Edition of 250 signed copies. It is very boldly and beautifully signed in gold pen-marker on the Back Cover by Kenneth Josephson. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. Josephson signed a few copies in gold (instead of silver pen-marker), making each such copy more collectible. This title is a great photobook. As far as we know, this is the only such gold-marker signed copy of the Limited Edition available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies of the 1973 Edition available online command many hundreds of dollars more. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. 20 plates. One of the greatest artist/photographers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER KENNETH JOSEPHSON TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 1477312005.

Seller Inventory # 23841

Bibliographic Details

• Title: KENNETH JOSEPHSON: THE BREAD BOOK: THE 2016 LIMITED EDITION - Rare Pristine Copy of The Limited Edition: Specially Signed In Gold Pen-Marker by Kenneth Josephson - ONLY SUCH SIGNED COPY ONLINE
• Publisher: Austin, TX: University Of Texas Press, 2016
• Publication Date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1477312005
• ISBN 13: 9781477312001
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition.
• Condition: As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: None, As Issued
• Signed: Signed by Author

About this title

Synopsis

“A monument of the conceptual photobook. . . . It’s the book itself that is the work of art, not the individual images. . . . Like most of the best conceptual photography, the idea is devastatingly simple on the surface, yet infinitely complex when you look beyond the surface.”
—Gerry Badger, author of The Photobook: A History

In 1973, renowned conceptual photographer Kenneth Josephson photographed a sliced loaf of bread from one end to the other to create The Bread Book. A deceptively simple object—photographs of the fronts and backs of ten slices of bread, sandwiched between the heels of the loaf with no accompanying text—this artist’s book raises fascinating questions about the nature of photography and its ability to transform an object into an idea or concept, while creating yet another object: the book itself. Reviewing The Bread Book in afterimage, Alex Sweetman proclaimed that “the result of this act of transformation is that the original loaf no longer functions as a loaf of bread, but as a self-contained book considering the ideas of sequence and illusion in relation to the photographic medium.”

Originally published in an edition of 1,800 copies, The Bread Book has been out of print and greatly sought after for many years. This new edition is limited to 250 copies, each signed by Kenneth Josephson.

About the Author

Kenneth Josephson has participated in numerous exhibitions, and his works are in major museums around the world, including the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; the Center for Creative Photography; the George Eastman House; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Museum of Modern Art; the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, as well as countless private collections.