BARBARA CRANE: STILL LIFES: NATURES MORTES by Crane, Barbara (Photographer) & Zutautas, Sofia (Contributor) - 2004

Chicago, IL: Illinois Arts Council/Chicago Department Of Cultural Affairs, 2004. First Edition. First Printing.. Softcover. Fine/No Dust Jacket, As Issued.. Chicago, IL: Illinois Arts Council/Chicago Department Of Cultural Affairs, 2004. Softcover. Fine/None, As Issued. First Edition/First Printing. 15 pages. Retrospective collection of still-life photographs. Limited Edition of 500 copies. The first and only edition. Published as a softcover original only by the Illinois Arts Council. The Limited Edition is now rare. An austerely elegant production by Barbara Crane and JNL Graphic Design Chicago: Oversize-volume format. Pictorial softcovers, which feature the front (on the front cover) and back (on the back cover) of an animal skull, as issued. Photographs by Barbara Crane. Essay by Sofia Zutautas, Assistant Curator of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. Chicago's Cultural Commission, in cooperation with the United States Embassy in Greece, arranged the collection's very first exhibition at the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography Athens in February 2004. Printed on pristine-white, very thick coated stock paper in the United States to the highest standards. The reproduction quality is exemplary in every respect. Without DJ, as issued. Published on the occasion of the exhibition of the same name held at the Chicago Cultural Center in 2004. Presents Barbara Crane's "Still Lifes: Natures Mortes". A powerful contemplation of (human) mortality through the rich metaphorical imagery of Nature. Barbara Crane had been collecting, and then photographing in her rigorous ID style, found objects from the natural landscape: Dead animals and hollowed-out skulls from Michigan, where she owned a cabin in the woods. "Isolated from the distractions of their environment, these dead creatures become magnified essays on the formal aspects of change, confronting the viewer in the specificity of their detail. The tonal contrasts of the images enhance the slightest nuances: The fuzzy feathers and fur, the wrinkled skin, the juxtaposition of soft tissue against hard bone structure, the accumulation of regurgitated strands of hair, the convulsively intertwined wood" (Sofia Zutautas) . Indefatigable until the end, Barbara Crane died on August 7, 2019 at the age of 91. An absolute "must-have" title for Barbara Crane collectors. This copy is very boldly and beautifully signed in black pen-marker on the title page by Barbara Crane. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary art photography classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the Limited Edition still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online command as much as $165. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. 13 plates. One of the finest American photographers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER BARBARA CRANE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0972726624.