PHOTOBOOK-CZECH] TMEJ, ZDENEK. Abeceda: Dusevniho prazdna. [Alphabet of Spiritual Emptiness] . Prague: Zadura Nakladelstvi, 1946. First edition. Original card covers in the printed dust jacket. 9 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches (24 x 21 cm); 62 pp., with 45 black and white photographs printed in gravure. The very rare dust jacket slightly chipped at the edges of the photographic front panel, some minor losses to the rear, in all a sound example retaining the flaps. An extraordinary photobook, Tmej's photographs are accompanied by the text by Alexandra Urbanova. Tmej was able to shoot inside a forced labor camp run by the Nazis, from the fall of 1942 on. He had two cameras, and was able to acquire film and other photographic necessities. The resulting images are of searing power, showing men and women attempting to retain their humanity under the most brutal and degrading of circumstances, the "spiritual emptiness" of the title. "Apparently the Gestapo found the images, but (clearly misunderstanding their potency as pictures) allowed him to keep them as 'souvenirs'. The resulting book, distilled from around 200 negatives, is notable not only for its historical value but also for Tmej's ability to make formally elegant images that are invested with a poetic weight that is quite remarkable."-- from Parr and Badger I, 198-9; see also Roth 124-5; Open Book 144-5. C
PHOTOBOOK-CZECH] TMEJ, ZDENEK. Abeceda: Dusevniho prazdna. [Alphabet of Spiritual Emptiness] . Prague: Zadura Nakladelstvi, 1946. First edition. Original card covers in the printed dust jacket. 9 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches (24 x 21 cm); 62 pp., with 45 black and white photographs printed in gravure. The very rare dust jacket slightly chipped at the edges of the photographic front panel, some minor losses to the rear, in all a sound example retaining the flaps. An extraordinary photobook, Tmej's photographs are accompanied by the text by Alexandra Urbanova. Tmej was able to shoot inside a forced labor camp run by the Nazis, from the fall of 1942 on. He had two cameras, and was able to acquire film and other photographic necessities. The resulting images are of searing power, showing men and women attempting to retain their humanity under the most brutal and degrading of circumstances, the "spiritual emptiness" of the title. "Apparently the Gestapo found the images, but (clearly misunderstanding their potency as pictures) allowed him to keep them as 'souvenirs'. The resulting book, distilled from around 200 negatives, is notable not only for its historical value but also for Tmej's ability to make formally elegant images that are invested with a poetic weight that is quite remarkable."-- from Parr and Badger I, 198-9; see also Roth 124-5; Open Book 144-5. C
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