WONDERFUL PORTFOLIO OF HAND-PAINTED PHOTOGRAPHS BY ACCLAIMED PUERTO RICAN PHOTOGRAPH AND ARTIST VICTOR VAZQUEZ, EACH SIGNED BY HIM

VAZQUEZ, Victor. The Body and the Bird. Philadelphia: Seraphin Gallery, 2002. Large folio (16 by 20 inches), unbound, nine gelatin silver photographic prints, each tissue-guarded and matted, original cloth clamshell box. $8500.

Signed limited first edition of this dramatic portfolio of nine hand-painted gelatin silver prints by an iconic Puerto Rican artist, number 6 of only 25 copies produced, each print signed, titled and dated on the verso by Vazquez.

"Religion, especially the Afro-Caribbean Santeria, features prominently in Vazquez's photographs… The hand-painted photographs… are a vaguely discomfiting package-monumental nude figure studies with surreal symbols like feathers, bones, dead roosters and nails… There's a fierce beauty here, formal and at the same time primal, and altogether compelling" (Roberta Fallon). "His career has earned Vázquez prizes both in Puerto Rico and abroad, and since 1983 he has taken part in countless solo and group exhibits, such as the Havana Biennial in 1997. His photographs, warm in light and tone, explore his fascination with the ancestral, with rites, religions, and dreams, and with the duality sacred/profane; with the body, its sexuality and death; and with pain and pleasure" (Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico).

Fine condition.