PhotoLit - data bank on photographic literature

Text engl., dansk. - Printed by Egmont H. Petersen. Leica photographs. Original grey-blue paper boards, with white paper spine lettered in grey, over design and typography by Hoy Petersen. First and only edition of Helmer-Petersens outstanding first self-published book of abstract colour studies. The 122 colour photographs of the everyday which Helmer-Petersen started taking in the early 1940's, two decades before Shore and Eggleston emerged in the 1970's with analogous colour studies, Helmer-Petersen's photographs were so ahead of its time that the book consequently was insufficiently noticed. 'His aim was to make the kinds of pictures that could only work in colour, and not in black and white. This is not as easy as it sounds, since it requires both paying attention to the issue of colour and preventing it from becoming the dominant concern. It deserves credit as a singular, remarkably early and largely successful attempt to make color photography work.' (The Photobook: A History Volume I). Scarce.

„The dominant concern" (Gerry Badger). Since color has been the dominant concern of major painters throughout history (MRetrospective collection of photographs. Published in a small and limited print run as a hardcover original only. A brilliant production by Edition Blondal: Small-size volume format. Glossy black hard boards with white titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Printed on thick coated stock paper in Denmark to the highest standards. Without dustjacket, as issued. Presents a dazzling selection of Keld Helmer-Petersen's work in color, personally chosen by the photographer. "In the history of photography, color became an artistically viable medium around the early 1970's, with the emergence of such photographers as Stephen Shore and William Eggleston. However, in 1948, the Danish photographer Keld Helmer-Petersen published a book of color photographs that prefigured their work by two decades or so. His aim was to make the kinds of pictures that could only work in color and not in black-and-white. This is not as easy as it sounds for it requires both paying attention to the issue of color and preventing it from becoming tatisse and Warhol come to mind among modern artists), the moralistic concern that it could overwhelm an image is precisely what has prevented it from becoming acceptable in photography. To this day, color is a problematic issue for many photographers. Black-and-white remains the preferred and prestigious medium, whether it's Josef Koudelka, Daido Moriyama or Bruce Weber. It is also the reason Keld Helmer-Petersen is a truly remarkable figure. The still lifes and extreme-closeup abstract images in this gem of a book are beautiful. An elegance, simplicity, and austerity (in spite of the boldness of his colors) underlie all of Helmer-Petersen's work. We tend to label these qualities as "Scandinavian" or "Nordic", which is not false but is facile. Despite the fact that his work has been championed by Martin Parr, our most committed colorist, Keld Helmer-Petersen remains an enigmatic figure. He spent some time in the United States, teaching at Chicago's legendary Institute of Design, the foremost exponent of Bauhaus aesthetics in America. His stint at ID made him well-known within Chicago's photography circles, where he is identified with Aaron Siskind, Harry Callahan, and Yasuhiro Ishimoto, among others. Mainstream recognition of his sublime work is long overdue and well-deserved. - Nur Kurztitelaufnahme 09.2008.

Text engl. - „While the rise of color photography as a viable artistic medium has often been credited to the celebrated work of Willam Eggleston and Stephen Shore in the 1970s, their efforts had in fact been preceded by almost two decades by the Danish photographer Keld Helmer-Petersen (born 1920). Helmer-Petersen's 1948 publication of 122 Colour Photographs stands as an extraordinary accomplishment: inspired by the realism of the Neue Sachlichkeit movement, Helmer-Petersen concentrated on the mundane and the everyday, generating a panoply of geometric abstractions out of curved doorknobs, crates of tomatoes, industrial metal drums and straw-colored buildings against milky blue skies. With this reproduction, accompanied by an essay by historian Mette Sandbye, 122 Colour Photographs can at last assume its proper role as the foundational book that successfully put color photography on the map and brought modernism into Danish photography. Errata Editions' Books on Books series is an ongoing publishing project dedicated to making rare and out-of-print photography books accessible to students and photobook enthusiasts. These are not reprints or facsimiles but complete studies of the original books. Each volume in the series presents the entire content, page for page, of an original master bookwork which, up until now, has been too rare or expensive for most to experience. Through a mix of classic and contemporary titles, this series spans the breadth of photographic practice as it has appeared on the printed page and allows further study of the creation and meanings of these great works of art. Each volume in the series contains illustrations of every page in the original photobook, a new essay by an established writer on photography, production notes about the creation of the original edition and biographical and bibliographical information about each artist.“ (http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&node=45&pf_rd_s=product-alert&pf_rd_r=1Q70248XKY6YZR7H0BGC&pf_rd_p=2007692702&pf_rd_t=201&rw_ref=amb_link_428171842_1&pf_rd_i=1935004271, 12.2014).

Very good. HCA.

Skrifter udgivet af Kunstakademiets Bibliotek.

Text engl. - Kleines, seltenes Ratgeberbuch des Farbfotografen, mit 8 ganzseitigen Farbabbildungen auf Kunstdruckpapier. Aus Helmer-Petersens Klassiker der Fotobuchgeschichte 122 Colour Photographs (1948) wurden einige der Bildbeispiele übernommen.

Text svenska, engl.

*Bd. 1 = alles Erschienene.

Text sv. - Outstanding first publication by the artist.

Text engl., sv.

Pictures from Österaker prison, north of Stockholm. - Nur Kurztitelaufnahme 12.2001.

Nur Kurztitelaufnahme 12.2001.

Enthält Kurzbiographien.

Text dt. - „Seit Café Lehmitz hat Anders Petersen über 20 Bücher veröffentlicht. Seinem engagierten Interesse an den sogenannten Randgruppen der Gesellschaft ist er bis heute so treu geblieben wie der Schwarzweiß-Fotografie. Gefängnisse, Altenheime und psychiatrische Anstalten, die verwahrlosten Vororte unserer Großstädte mit ihrer harten und brutalen, oft auch erschütternd trostlosen Realität sind die Schauplätze seiner Bilder geblieben, die inzwischen um die Welt gehen und ihren Autor berühmt gemacht haben. Die Bibliothèque nationale in Paris richtet Anders Petersen, der in Stockholm lebt und arbeitet und u. a. 2008 mit dem Erich-Salomon-Preis ausgezeichnet wurde, jetzt eine Retrospektive aus zu der als Begleitbuch diese große Monografie erscheint die erste umfassende Würdigung seines photographischen Werks.“ (n. Kat. Frölich & Kaufmann, Berlin 02.2014).

Text fr. - „This is not an interview, it is an exchange, a long discussion about photography, life, values​​, influences, those of Christer Strömholm, those of Daido Moriyama… The key, in the case of Anders Petersen is to restore his speech, with its hesitations, its magnificent doubts, beliefs, its authenticity, its determination. Here, he generously lays bare, without evasions, struggles with words, laughs, takes a sip of beer to finally say, “I ‘m chaotic. But this is probably what it takes.” This former student and friend of Christer Strömholm remains attached to humans, to their mystery, their solitude and to the deep and complex feelings he was able to highlight in his previous works, both at the psychiatric hospital and in prison. To achieve this deep “Truth”, he lives with those he photographs. His dilemma can be summed sometimes in a short sentence: “I know that, in order to make good photographs, to be at the right distance, I must have one foot in and one foot out. My problem is that I always end up having both feet in!” This started a long time ago, when in 1967 he settled for three years in a bistro in Hamburg, the Café Lehmnitz, haunted by sailors on a spree, prostitutes, bums and alcoholics. Here, people drink, dance, love, cry, sing. And Anders lives, taking photos on the fly and picturing the disturbing drift of the humanity he loves so deeply. And he shows, in situations of marginalization, a rare intensity of the feelings.“ (Publisher’s text).

Nur Kurztitelaufnahme 06.2000.

Nur Kurztitelaufnahme 06.2003. - Check entry.

Text fr.

Text dt. - Text von Roger Anderson. Cafe Lehmitz ist eine Stehbierhalle in Hamburg am Ende der Reeperbahn. Er ist Treffpunkt und Endstation für viele, die auf der Reeperbahn gearbeitet haben: z.B. Prostituierte, Zuhälter, Transvestiten und gewöhnliche Diebe. - Andere Ausgabe: Frankfurt aM, Wien, Zürich Büchergilde Gutenberg, 1979. Neuauflage 2004, Nachdruck 2009, 2013.