BILL OWENS - Rare Pristine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing: Signed by Bill Owens - SIGNED ON THE TITLE PAGE

Owens, Bill (Photographer); Homes, A. M. (Contributor) & Zanfi, Claudia (Editor)

ISBN 10: 8862080174 / ISBN 13: 9788862080170

Edité par Bologna, Italy: Grafiche Damiani, 2007, 2008

A propos de cet article

1st Printing. Signed. 223 pages. Published in 2007. Retrospective Monograph. One of the most important photography books of our time. The first and only edition. Published in a small and limited print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. A brilliant production by Grafiche Damiani: Oversize-volume format. The book weighs 3 pounds. Photographs by Bill Owens. Text by A. M. Homes and Claudia Zanfi, who also edited the book. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper in Bologna, Italy to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Presents "Bill Owens". The most comprehensive retrospective of Bill Owens' work. A good deal of it has not been published anywhere before, too. "Bill Owens is best-known for his critically acclaimed 'Suburbia'. Owens simply shot friends and acquaintances in his Livermore, California neighborhood and allowed them to speak for themselves. Ordinary people have rarely been so riveting. This volume consists of work from 1969 to the Present, opening at the height of Flower Power with images of the Beat Generation, Woodstock, and the protests against Vietnam. There follows a series of images focussing on urban America, its endless grids, and homogeneous cities. In his most recent photographs, many of which are in color, Owens reveals how suburbia has evolved in the last 40 years, from the friendly place he captured in the 1970's to one characterized by sprawl and anonymity" (Claudia Zanfi). Bill Owens' aesthetic comes from the tension between being an insider and an outsider at the same time, from being someone who "fits right in" and is also deeply immersed in the California counter-culture that repudiated everything bourgeois and materialistic about suburban life. One way to describe his sensibility today is affectionate ambivalence, a rich, complex, late-modern aesthetic that also characterizes the work of Martin Parr at its best, whose work is indebted to Owens, and indeed, as this collection shows, Owens anticipated Parr by about two decades. An absolute "must-have" title for Bill Owens collectors. This copy is very boldly and beautifully signed in metallic-silver pen-marker on the title page by Bill Owens. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary photography classic. This is one of very 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. Bill Owens' "Suburbia" was selected as one of the greatest photography books in "The Photobook". One of the most brilliant photographers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER BILL OWENS TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 8862080174.

N° de réf. du vendeur 13624

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: BILL OWENS - Rare Pristine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing: Signed by Bill Owens - SIGNED ON THE TITLE PAGE
• Éditeur: Bologna, Italy: Grafiche Damiani, 2007
• Date de parution: 2008
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 8862080174
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9788862080170
• Reliure: Hardcover
• Édition: 1st Edition.
• État de l'article: As New
• État de la jaquette: None, As Issued
• Signé: Signed by Author

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

Book by Homes AM Owens Bill

Biographie de l'auteur

Our house is built with the living-room in the back, so in the evenings we sit out front of the garage and watch the traffic go by... Myths and rites of stars & stripes society in the black and white shots of a photographer who has always been interested in the social and anthropological aspects of United States culture: Bill Owens. Setting out from the great migratory waves and the rapid movement to the towns that took place in the 60 s, Owens began his career documenting the gatherings at Woodstock (the beat generation, the Rolling Stones at Altamont) and the pacifist demonstrations against the Vietnam war. By the 70 s he was already the official portraitist of that American way of life made up of neighbourhood, white fences and little flags in the garden. For the first time in a single publication the photographer has selected the most representative images of his series: Suburbia (1970-72); Our kind of People (1969-75); Working (I do it for money) (1975-77); Leisure: Americans at play (1973-80), After Suburbia (1975-77); 115 days. A Photographer s journey across America (2003) and New Suburbia (2006-07). In his most recent work, mainly unpublished colour photos, Owens recounts the natural evolution of the Suburbia scenario: cement as far as the eye can see and labyrinthine grids of streets where everyday life no longer seems to grant anything to the smile and curiosity of the photos shot in previous decades. The book is introduced with a fiction story by American writer A.M. Homes. Born in San Jose, California, Bill Owens made his name in 1973 with Suburbia and numerous other monographs on the customs of middle class America. A collector of folk art and pop memorabilia, Owens has dealt with subjects such as food and vintage cars, and for 17 years has edited American Brewer, a periodical dedicated to beer.