The Royal Photographic Society. Pictures from the Tyng Collection
London, The Royal Photographic Society ('Printed in Photogravure by Lascelles & Co. Ltd., Essex St. Strand W.C.2'), June 1931.
A large-format portfolio (510 × 363 mm), containing 6 tipped-in photogravures (each image size approximately 255 × 200 mm or the reverse), mounted on the recto of individual card leaves, each with a spiderweb-patterned tissue-guard; loosely inserted is the introduction and contents list, signed in facsimile by J. Dudley Johnston (320 × 220 mm, verso blank; a little foxed and creased, with a few light surface abrasions).
The contents are post-bound in overlapping textured card covers, the front panel lettered in gilt, with a small reproduction of one of the photogravures mounted in the centre (115 × 150 mm, lightly rubbed, with a tiny surface chip to the bottom edge); minimal expert conservation to several tiny tears to the edges of the front cover, which also has a tiny hole punched in it by the head of one of the metal posts; the first tissue-guard is a little chipped with slight loss; the second tissue-guard is slightly foxed, with a few tiny spots of foxing visible on the thin white margin of the plate ('St Malo' by Arthur Burgess); the third issue-guard is lightly creased; overall, these are trifling imperfections to what is a near-fine example of a very rare publication.
The first photogravure is 'Bewegungs Studie (Study of Movement) by Prof. Rudolf Koppitz of Vienna', featuring dancers from the Vienna State Opera Ballet. Rudolf Koppitz (1884-1936), was born in the Czech Republic; he was a Photo-Secessionist, and 'one of the leading representatives of art photography in Vienna between the world wars' (Wikipedia). The descriptive note on the contents list is unequivocal: 'This striking composition was exhibited in 1927 and is generally admitted to be one of the outstanding achievements of all time'. Modern commentators tend not to disagree: the 'languid nude, elaborately robed women and undeniable sensuality, in the context of its rigorous and artistic composition, bring to mind the sexual morbidity of Viennese artists like Gustav Klimt and Alphonse Mucha, as well as the Swiss symbolist painter Ferdinand Hodler and has made it as unforgettable then as it is today. It has become Koppitz's signature image' (Wikipedia). The other five photogravures are 'St Malo' by Arthur Burgess, Manchester; 'A Russian Boy' by Alexander Leventon, Rochester, USA; 'Mrs Violet Gordon Woodhouse at the Harpsichord' by Herbert Lambert, Bath (also reproduced on the front cover); 'Groote Kerke Veere' by John H. Anderson, London; and 'Muriel Evans' by Arthur F. Kales, Los Angeles. The short introduction explains the origin of the portfolio: 'The originals of the photogravures in this portfolio form part of the Tyng collection in the Permanent collection of photographic prints of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain. In the year 1927 the late Stephen H. Tyng of New York, an ardent well-wisher of the Society and one deeply interested in pictorial photography, vested with the trustees a sum of money ... the annual interest on which was to be expended on the purchase of pictorial photographs of outstanding merit ... As the majority of members of the Society seldom have an opportunity to visit the Society's house and to inspect the photographic collections there, the Pictorial Group has undertaken the publication of the present portfolio, which is hoped may be the forerunner of others' (this appears to have been a forlorn hope). John Dudley Johnston (1868-1955), a British photo-pictorialist, was president of the Royal Photographic Society when this portfolio was published.
Item #131293
Price (AUD):
$7,000.00