LEGIONNAIRES: PORTRAITS PHOTOGRAPHIQUES ET UNIFORMES - Rare Pristine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing: Signed by Charles Freger - ONLY SIGNED COPY ONLINE

Freger, Charles (Photographer); Stopin, Raphaelle & Mouchel, Didier (Contributors)

ISBN 10: 2914573073 / ISBN 13: 9782914573078

Published by Paris, France: 779/Galerie Du Chateau D'Eau Toulouse, 2002, 2002

About this Item

1st Printing. Signed. 120 pages. Published in 2002. Exhibition Monograph. Collection of portrait-photographs. One of the most important titles in the iconic series of "Portraits Photographiques et Uniformes". 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. The First Edition is now rare. A brilliant production by Charles Freger: Regular-sized volume format. Pristine-white hard boards with titles embossed on cover and spine, as issued. Photographs by Charles Freger. Text by Raphaelle Stopin and Didier Mouchel in the French original and felicitous English translation. Printed on thick, glossy stock paper in Paris, France to the highest standards. The reproduction quality is exemplary in every respect. In pictorial DJ with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Published on the occasion of the landmark exhibition held at the Galerie du Chateau d'Eau Toulouse in 2002. Presents Charles Freger's "Legionnaires: Portraits Photographiques Et Uniformes". Formal and informal portraits of multi-national members of the legendary French Legion, "freedom fighters"/soldiers-for-hire/mercenaries, who are, not just represent, the ultimate symbol of state-neutral, military discipline. The work of a brilliant portrait-photographer whose only possible equal is Rineke Dijkstra, the Freger Style is documentary PLUS portrait. His antecedent is August Sander, with an opposite twist: His portraits present not a national community (as Sander does) but the individuals who give a specific community its face and form. As such, his work is neither purely documentary or sociological. His emphasis on individual particularity repudiates nationalism as well as "globalization" and "the human family", the most cherished ideas of humanist-photojournalists (and corporations), as nothing more and nothing less than a myth. Instead, he suggests, human beings choose, almost innately, to identify with a much smaller community than the nation or the UN. With every seemingly exotic portrait, Freger poses the same provocative and compelling questions: Why do I choose to belong to a tribe? Why do I adhere to its rules? Why do I believe in the necessity of social cohesion? Why do I express myself through others? Freger reminds us that so-called personal identity is inconceivable without the notion of belonging to a community; ethnic and sexual minorities understand this instinctively better than anyone else. An absolute "must-have" title for Charles Freger collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed black pen-marker on the half-title page by Charles Freger. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary photography classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online command hundreds of dollars. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with color plates. One of the most brilliant photographers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER CHARLES FREGER TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 2914573073. Seller Inventory # 20415

Bibliographic Details

Title: LEGIONNAIRES: PORTRAITS PHOTOGRAPHIQUES ET ...

Publisher: Paris, France: 779/Galerie Du Chateau D'Eau Toulouse, 2002

Publication Date: 2002

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: As New

Dust Jacket Condition: As New

Signed: Signed by Author

Edition: 1st Edition.