Worldwide Books

W. Eugene Smith

Cahiers d'Art

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Welcome to a new edition of Desiderata, a special-alert service from Worldwide Books that aims to bring to your attention special new and forthcoming publications that may not be suitable for automatic inclusion in our approval-plan program (due to subject matter, special format, limited availability or price), but that nonetheless are likely to be of interest to many libraries. We will also periodically highlight noteworthy new approval-plan selections that may not be widely available through other sources.

The Big Book

In the early 1960s, American photographer W. Eugene Smith created an extensive photo-essay that was compiled into two handmade, folio-sized maquettes. Due to its large size and because it was not perceived as being commercially viable, his magnum opus was universally rejected by publishers, and the original now rests in the Smith Archive at the Center for Creative Photography (CCP) at the University of Arizona.

In a slipcased three-volume set, Smith's "Big Book" is now finally available to the public. Volumes 1 and 2 are facsimiles of his original manuscript, while a third volume presents critical essays and notes on the Smith Collection at CCP; "The Walk to Paradise Garden," by W. Eugene Smith; and images and entries for each of the photographs used.

W. EUGENE SMITH: THE BIG BOOK.

Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson, 2013. Published in association with University of Texas Press, Austin.

Three volumes. 36 x 27 cm.

Vol. 1: 168 pp. with 84 ills.

Vol. 2: 172 pp. with 87 ills.

Vol. 3 (Essays and Texts): 104 pp. with 474 ills. (8 col.).

ISBN 9780292754683

In English.

Slipcased, $185.00x

Worldwide 78766

From the publisher's website:

"W. Eugene Smith, an icon in the field of twentieth-century photography, is best known as the master of the humanistic photographic essay. Smith's most expressive and frequently reproduced images--World War II combat, the country doctor and nurse-midwife, Pittsburgh, Albert Schweitzer in Africa, rural Spanish villagers, and the mentally ill in Haiti--have altered our perception and understanding of the world.

In 1959, Smith became obsessed with creating an extended photo-essay that he called "The Big Book," a complex retrospective of his work that would reflect his philosophy of art and critique of the world. Smith's layout grouped photographs out of context and chronological order to form a series of connected "visual chapters and subchapters" that were intended to have a Joycean or Faulknerian literary quality.

The Big Book is an essential primary source document for the study of both the history of photography and the history of the photobook. This set, in slipcase, will likely be the most comprehensive catalogue of W. Eugene Smith's work ever published."

For other titles on W. Eugene Smith, click here.

Cahiers d'Art

Founded in 1926 by Christian Zervos, "Cahiers d'Art" refers at once to a publishing house, a gallery, and a journal of contemporary art defined by its combination of striking typography and layout, abundant photography, and juxtaposition of ancient and modern art, where writers like Tristan Tzara, Paul �luard, Ren� Char, Ernest Hemingway and Samuel Beckett often replaced the usual art critics.

Between 1926 and 1960, 97 issues of the revue had been published, and by 1970, more than 50 books on such topics as Matisse, Man Ray, and African and Mesopotamian Art. Cahiers d'Art is perhaps best known for the Picasso Catalogue, created by Christian Zervos in cooperation with Picasso himself, and -- although incomplete at the time of Zervos's death in 1970 -- still considered an essential reference for Picasso's work.

In 2011, Cahiers d'Art was acquired by Swedish collector Staffan Ahrenberg, who has resumed all of its activities as an exhibition space and publisher. The first issue of the new revue appeared in October, 2012, co-edited by Sam Keller, director of the Fondation Beyeler in Switzerland and chairman of Art Basel, and Hans Ulrich Obrist, art critic and co-director of the Serpentine Gallery in London. A new edition of the 33-volume Picasso Catalogue is due to be released in December, though its $20,000 price tag is not for the faint of heart.

The first monograph to be published by Cahiers d'Art since the relaunch examined the relationship between photographer Herbert Matter and sculptor Alexander Calder.

CALDER BY MATTER.

Ed. by Alexander S.C. Rower.

Editions Cahiers d'Art, Paris, 2013.

328 pp. with 404 ills. (95 col.). 32 x 32 cm.

ISBN 9782851171016

In English.

Hardcover $100.00

Worldwide Number: 078405

This book is also available in a limited edition presented in a handmade aluminum box with a portfolio of six numbered gelatin silver photographs and signed by Alexander Matter, the son of the photographer, and Alexander S.C. Rower, the grandson of the artist. (Please note that this is a special-order item; please contact us to confirm price and availability.)

CALDER BY MATTER: COLLECTOR'S EDITION.

Editions Cahiers d'Art, Paris, 2013.

Published in association with Calder Foundation, New York.

328 pp. with 404 ills. (95 col.)

32 x 32 cm.

In English.

Hardcover, boxed $2950.00

Worldwide Number: 078411

About Us

For over 50 years, Worldwide Books has served academic, museum and public libraries as a specialized source for art exhibition catalogues issued by museums and galleries throughout the world. For the past two decades Worldwide has also offered comprehensive coverage of new books on art, architecture, photography and design published by hundreds of leading American trade and university presses. Serving as a centralized source for a wide range of scholarly art books and exhibition catalogues, Worldwide is uniquely positioned to assist and guide art libraries in careful and efficient collection development.