ELEVEN EARLY ORIGINAL SILVER-GELATIN PRINTS BY GOTTFRIED JAEGER, LEADING PROPONENT OF GENERATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY, WITH MUSEUM BROCHURE, MONOGRAPH, AND PORTFOLIO (SIGNED BY HIM)

JAEGER, Gottfried. Eleven photographic prints from the series “Lochblendstruktur” (“Pinhole Structures”). WITH: Generative Fotografie. WITH: JAEGER, Gottfried, editor. Generative Fotografie. WITH: Fourteen loose reproductions. Bielefeld: Stadtisches Kunsthaus, 1968; (Ravensburg: Otto Maier, 1975). Four pieces altogether. Nine original black-and-white and two color silver-gelatin prints, measuring 10 inches square, contained in four original glassine sleeves, in contemporary orange portfolio; 14 loose reproductions in slim white portfolio; folio, original silver cloth. $8000.

Scarce collection of eleven original photographic prints from negatives, hand-dated by Jaeger, with his copyright stamp. Together with the 1968 exhibition brochure from the Bielefeld Museum, 1975 first edition of the first monograph on generative photography, edited by Jaeger, and 1969 artist’s portfolio of glossy reproductions, signed by Jaeger.

The leading proponent of “generative” photography, Gottfried Jaeger, analyzes computer-generated images using number and chaos theory, thereby uncovering latent, logical underlying patterns in the actual photographic process that contain novel aesthetic qualities. These rare original avant garde photographs represent “abstract notions” derived from “productive photography” (in this case with the camera obscura)— concrete images gleaned by Jaeger from the photographic process itself. They comprise a work-group from his experimental “pinhole structures” series, first presented in the exhibition “Generative Fotografie” at the Bielefeld Art Museum in 1968 (original brochure included). In 1975, Jaeger collaborated with Karl Holzhauser and Herbert Franke in producing the first major monograph on the theoretical bases and creative approach to generative imagery. Texts in German. Included also is a photocopy of the English translation of Jaeger’s seminal article on generative photography (initialed by Jaeger), published in Leonardo in 1986. From the estate of Gyory Kepes, founder of MIT’s Center for Advanced Visual Studies, who was given these prints for inclusion in the Brooklyn Museum exhibition, “Experiments in Art and Technology” in 1968.

All items in fine condition. A superb collection of primary source materials documenting the origins of this fascinating artistic movement.