“LET US TELL SOMETHING!”: RENÉ GROEBLI’S EYE OF LOVE, 1954

GROEBLI, René. Das Auge der Liebe (The Eye of Love). Zurich: Turnus, (1954). Oblong octavo, original photographic wrappers, original printed glassine dust jacket. $1300.

First edition of this sensuous photo-essay set in a French hotel room, with illustrated cover and 24 finely screened full-page halftones.

René Grorbli “takes a set of personal photographs investigating certain formal issues and turns them into an elegant photobook by carefully setting them into a framework of text, graphic design, typography and production” (Parr & Badger, 204). In Groebli’s words, “I tried to convey the typical atmosphere of French hotel rooms… There were so many impressions: the poor-looking furniture in a cheap hotel, the word ‘Amors’ embroidered on the curtains. And I was in love with the girl, the girl who is my wife… I think a series of photographs should be compared with a novel or even a poem rather than a painting: let us tell something!” With a poem in German by Walter Gort Bischof.

Small spot of water damage to bottom corners. Scarce glassine with a few short tears and small chips, light soiling. An extremely good copy, scarce in this condition.