“THIS WAS THE ERA OF THE ‘GRAB SHOT,’ THE SNEAKY INDISCRETION”: RETROSPECTIVE OF PHOTOJOURNALIST LUCIEN AIGNER

AIGNER, Lucien. Lucien Aigner. New York: International Center for Photography, 1979. Small quarto, original black cloth. $750.

Signed limited first edition of this retrospective of Aigner’s work, number 77 of only 100 copies, with 85 candid photogravures, signed by Aigner.

One of the pioneers of photojournalism, Life magazine photographer Lucien Aigner “achieved prominence as a photojournalist in Paris, where he lived from 1925 to 1938… Working for a Hungarian newspaper under the pseudonym ‘Aral,’ he recorded history in the making during the turbulent 1930s.” This retrospective view of Aigner’s work resulted from the recovery of a suitcase he had abandoned in 1938, containing some 50,000 negatives “of unique historical and documentary value” (McDarrah, 9), including images of Churchill, Hitler, Mussolini, Albert Einstein, Yehudi Menuin, and Marlene Deitrich. In Aigner’s words, “This was the era of the ‘grab shot,’ the sneaky indiscretion. In those days, what interested me was human pettiness.”

Fine condition, signed.