“INTENDED TO SUBVERT THE TRADITIONAL ROMANTIC LANDSCAPE GENRE”: INTERIORS 1973-1974, SIGNED BY ROBERT ADAMS, WITH 24 LOOSE DUOTONE EXHIBITION-SIZE PLATES

ADAMS, Robert. Interiors 1973-1974. (Tucson): Nazraeli, (2006). Folio portfolio, original pale green cloth portfolio with four inner flaps, 24 duotone photographic plates (11 by 14 inches), loose as issued, printed on coated matte heavy stock, three additional loose leaves (title page, text, copyright page). $650.

First trade edition of this pristine portfolio housing 24 loose duotone photographic plates by Adams—a revolutionary vision that has fundamentally altered our “collective view of the land” (Parr & Badger), boldly signed by Robert Adams on the title page.

A forerunner whose “New Topographics approach created an important link between documentary photography and Conceptual art, between art photography and vernacular photography, between American and European photography,” Robert Adams radically shifted landscape photography by turning his camera on “what became known as the ‘man-altered’ landscape.” In his landmark New West (1974) and this superb collection of 24 loose duotone plates, also taken in Denver during the 70s but never before published, Adams has fundamentally altered our “collective view of the land” (Parr & Badger II:14, 25). “In a minimal style intended to subvert the traditional romantic landscape genre” (Roth, 226), these exhibition-size plates evoke what Adams himself describes as a fragmented world where “the puzzle became how to live inside” (Preface). First trade edition, limited to 1,000 copies; published same year as signed limited edition of 100 copies, no priority established. As issued without dust jacket. See Open Book, 364.

A fine signed copy.