Web Description: Modern Rare: Geometry of Innocence
Schles, Ken
The Geometry Of Innocence
Imprint: Ostfildern-ruit, Germany, Hatje Cantz Publishers, 2001
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
First Edition / First Printing. As New in As New Dust Jacket. 128 pages. The
photographer's second collection. Destined to be a late-modern classic. A handsome
production by Ken Schles: Oversize-volume format. Hard boards with titles on
spine, as issued. Photographs by Ken Schles. Edited with Essays by Markus Schaden
and Thomas Zander [sic]. In pictorial DJ with titles on the cover and spine,
as issued. Presents the brilliant photographer's new work, after a very long
hiatus. The book contains numerous images that are reproduced as doublespreads
and presents Schles work in color for the first time. "Twelve years after the
legendary success of his first book of photographs, 'Invisible City', Ken Schles
returns with his long-awaited project. Schles's focus is on the relentless shifting
of social structures and spaces that mark the urban landscape of today. His images
form a kind of visual roller coaster, sending the viewer onto city streets and
playgrounds, into pubs and bars, putting the viewer inside a police helicopter
and taking them to death row, hospital rooms, and police interventions. While
there is no story per se, this breathless sequence of pictures is condensed into
thematic clusters, providing a spellbinding and almost physically palpable experience" (Publisher's
blurb). Some commentators have said that Ken Schles is the darker William Klein
(with "echoes" of Weegee), misleadingly suggesting in the process that Klein
is a joyful, bright, "daytime" photographer. While there is an unmistakable influence
by Klein, perhaps it is easier to see how different the two are by speaking of
them in literary terms: William Klein is an essayist whereas Ken Schles is a
poet. Both are great photographers. This title is now out-of-print. This copy
has no flaws, a pristine beauty. A scarce copy thus. 106 color and 87 duotone
plates. One of the most brilliant living American photographers. A flawless copy.
(SEE ALSO OTHER KEN SCHLES TITLE IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 3775710116