“THE END OF THE WORLD FROM THE GEOMETRY OF INNOCENCE”

SCHLES, Ken. The Geometry of Innocence. (Ostfildern-Ruit, Germany): Hatje Cantz, (2001). Folio, original black cloth, photographic endpapers, original black slipcase. $1600.

Limited edition of Schles’ long-awaited second photobook, one of only 50 copies, containing over 100 color and duotone photographic images, together with his untitled 8 by 10-inch silver gelatin photographic print of the “U.S.S. Carl Vinson,” numbered three of 50 and signed by Schles in pencil on the verso, along with his captioned inscription, “The end of the world from The Geometry of Innocence,” housed in original black chemise. With scarce original slipcase.

In Schles' long anticipated second photobook, only his first published work after the landmark Invisible City (1988), electrifying color images combine with crisp duotones in a work that takes its title from Bob Dylan's Tombstone Blues: "The geometry of innocence flesh on the bone." Here Schles is at once objective and "discretely but harrowingly personal… like headlines in time-lapse, Geometry of Innocence sweeps together myth, aspiration, failure, sleaze, horror, menace and the urban dispersonal" (European Photography Review). Limited first edition of only 50 copies, with 57 duotone and 48 color photographic images, captioned photographic image list at rear, and separate chemise housing Schles' signed, numbered silver gelatin print, number three of 50. Scarce in original slipcase.

A fine copy.