“ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PHOTOGRAPHERS OF HIS GENERATION”: FIRST EDITION OF MARTIN MUNKACSI, 1992

MUNKACSI, Martin. Martin Munkacsi. An Aperture Monograph. (New York): Aperture, 1992. Large quarto, original half black cloth, original photographic dust jacket. $100.

First edition, the distinctive Aperture monograph on Munkacsi, with 57 finely screened duotone plates and numerous additional images from the career of the legendary photographer whose “love of movement and sheer pictorial pizzazz” (New York Times) transformed American fashion photography. From the collection of renowned photojournalist Peter Turnley.

Henri Cartier-Bresson famously credited Martin Munkacsi (1896-1963) with creating the image that inspired that made him “suddenly realize that photography could reach eternity through the moment.” That photograph, one of African boys running into surf, was taken by Munkacsi in 1932, and is featured here in this Aperture monograph that traces his impressive career over five decades. A celebrated Weimar photojournalist, Munkacsi “often photographed from dizzying angles to make his pictures more dynamic” (New York Times). After fleeing the Nazis, Munkacsi “inaugurated a new stylistic trend” (Frizot, 546) as a leading fashion photographer at Harper’s Bazaar, where his invigorating images “demonstrated the love of movement and sheer pictorial pizzazz that was to make him one of the most successful photographers of his generation” (New York Times). New York’s International Center of Photography paid particular tribute to Munkacsi’s importance to modern photography in a special 2007 exhibit. First edition, published coincident with a retrospective organized by the Aperture Foundation, held in 1992 at the Fashion Institute of Technology. From the collection of Peter Turnley, acclaimed photojournalist for Newsweek, Life and Harper’s Magazine, who has covered “almost every important international news event of the last 15 years” (New York Times); signed by Turnley.

A fine copy, with a memorable association.