Staff Favorite Summer Books

Christine Osinski: Summer Days Staten Island

Published by Damiani.
Text by Paul Moakley. Interview by A. H. Data.

"Seen now, the photographs show the island’s game face, the one it turned to the outside world. Her subjects, whether children or adults, were home in their island redoubt, braced for whatever might come their way." - The New York Times

PUBLISHER
Damiani

BOOK FORMAT
Hardcover, 12 x 9.5 in. / 96 pgs / illustrated throughout.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date 2/23/2016
Active

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: SPRING 2016 p. 110   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9788862084482 TRADE
List Price: $40.00 CDN $54.00

AVAILABILITY
In stock

Cape Cod Modern

Mid-Century Architecture and Community on the Outer Cape

Published by Metropolis Books.
Foreword by Kenneth Frampton. Text by Peter McMahon, Christine Cipriani. Photographs by Raimund Koch.

In the summer of 1937, Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus and a professor at Harvard’s new Graduate School of Design, rented a house on Planting Island, near the base of Cape Cod. There, he and his wife, Ise, hosted a festive reunion of Bauhaus masters and students who had recently emigrated from Europe: Marcel Breuer, Herbert Bayer, László Moholy-Nagy, Xanti Schawinsky and others. Together they feasted, swam and planned their futures on a new continent, all sensing they were on the cusp of a momentous new phase in their lives. Yet even as they moved on, the group never lost its connection to the Cape Cod coast. Several members returned, when they had the means, to travel farther up the peninsula, rent cabins, buy land and design their ideal summer homes. Thus began a chapter in the history of modern architecture that has never been told--until now. The flow of talent onto the Outer Cape continued and, within a few years, the area was a hotbed of intellectual currents from New York, Boston, Cambridge and the country’s top schools of architecture and design. Avant-garde homes began to appear in the woods and on the dunes; by the 1970s, there were about 100 modern houses of interest here. In this story, we meet, among others, the Boston Brahmins Jack Phillips and Nathaniel Saltonstall; the self-taught architect, carpenter and painter Jack Hall; the Finn Olav Hammarström, who had worked for Alvar Aalto; and the prolific Charlie Zehnder, who brought the lessons of both Frank Lloyd Wright and Brutalism to the Cape. Initially, these designers had no clients; they built for themselves and their families, or for friends sympathetic to their ideals. Their homes were laboratories, places to work through ideas without spending much money. The result of this ferment is a body of work unlike any other, a regional modernism fusing the building traditions of Cape Cod fishing towns with Bauhaus concepts and postwar experimentation.

PUBLISHER
Metropolis Books

BOOK FORMAT
Hardcover, 8.75 x 10.25 in. / 272 pgs / 130 color / 200 bw.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date 6/30/2014
Active

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: SPRING 2014 p. 179   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9781935202165 TRADE
List Price: $45.00 CDN $62.00

AVAILABILITY
In stock

Shore Leave

Published by Boyo Press.
Edited by Ryan Mungia. Introduction by Jim Heimann.

For the thousands of US sailors bound for the Pacific theatre of World War II, the Hawaiian Islands were the staging ground for an unknown fate. Their perception of Honolulu as a tropical paradise quickly deflated upon their arrival. The anticipation of a moonlit Diamond Head, available hula girls and free-flowing and affordable rum quickly materialized into crowded streets, beaches cordoned off with barbed wire and endless lines to nowhere. Still, as with many ports of call, diversions were plentiful, and set against the warm trade winds, sailors took advantage of them on their last stop to hell. Shore Leave is the first photobook to capture the Honolulu of this time and place. It is a one-of-a-kind visual document of a port that, for many sailors who passed through, was their initiation into manhood. Classic 1940s images of Hawaiian hula girls complement scrapbook photos of jaunty, uniformed sailors touring the island on a motorcycle or playing pool. Young women masquerading as bonafide hula girls pose with sailors in photobooth arcades, a ritual that for many would be the last human embrace before being deposited onto the battefield. Whether on the crowded streets of Waikiki or in line at the famed Black Cat Cafe, the young American men appear content for the moment with the liberties that their 48 hours away from the ship afforded. Meticulously culled from a 30-year collection of scrapbooks, photo albums and ephemera, Shore Leave—beautifully packaged with its clothbound, tipped-on cover—presents the dreams and realities of young men on their way to war in a Honolulu as exotic and forbidden as it was banal and lonely.

PUBLISHER
Boyo Press

BOOK FORMAT
Clth, 10 x 8 in. / 88 pgs / 8 color / 71 bw.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date 4/26/2016
Active

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: SPRING 2016 p. 34   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9780991619818 TRADE
List Price: $39.95 CDN $53.95 GBP £35.00

AVAILABILITY
In stock

Fred Mortagne: Attraper au vol

Catch in the Air

Published by Um Yeah Arts.
Foreword by Anton Corbijn. Essay by Geoff Rowley.

The world of skateboarding meets architectural beauty in the amazing -- almost unbelievable -- skateboard photographs of Fred Mortagne

PUBLISHER
Um Yeah Arts

BOOK FORMAT
Hardcover, 9.25 x 11.75 in. / 132 pgs / 66 bw.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date 10/25/2016
Active

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: FALL 2016 p. 62   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9781942884088 TRADE
List Price: $45.00 CDN $60.00 GBP £40.00

AVAILABILITY
In stock

There Was Always a Place to Crash

Al Kaplan's Provincetown 1961–1966

Published by Letter16 Press.
Introduction by Brett Sokol.

There Was Always a Place to Crash: Al Kaplan’s Provincetown 1961–1966 features previously unseen photographs of Provincetown, Massachusetts’ early 1960s bohemian milieu, from future Andy Warhol Factory film star Rene Ricard to the libertine scene unfolding inside gay rights pioneer Prescott Townsend’s legendary treehouse, where countless "washashores" (including filmmaker John Waters) would stay upon first hitting Provincetown. The end result is an intimate look at a key countercultural period in American history—one whose often overlooked nuances still resonate today in both the art world and throughout the gay community. All of the volume’s images have been carefully transferred from the late Miami photographer Al Kaplan’s original 35mm black-and-white negatives. With an introduction by award-winning Miami arts journalist Brett Sokol, There Was Always a Place to Crash is one of the first records of this pre-Stonewall era in Provincetown.

PUBLISHER
Letter16 Press

BOOK FORMAT
Hardcover, 11.25 x 10.25 in. / 72 pgs / 79 bw.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date 2/23/2016
Active

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: SPRING 2016 p. 110   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9780989381116 TRADE
List Price: $29.95 CDN $39.95 GBP £27.00

AVAILABILITY
In stock

Deanna Templeton: The Swimming Pool

Published by Um Yeah Arts.
Text by Ed Templeton.

The Swimming Pool is a new photographic essay from California-based street photographer Deanna Templeton (born 1969) that departs from her usual style to offer an expressive, intimate view of the human form underwater. The series was born after an impromptu nude swimming-pool shoot of husband and artist Ed Templeton, which spurred an eight-year journey in the study of light, expression and the enigma of water. Shooting entirely on color and black-and-white film and Polaroid, Templeton sent friends into the pool to be photographed in their truest form. Unlike her street photography, in which subjects were often strangers, Templeton found that creating these portraits required more intimacy and connection—a feeling that is apparent throughout every image in the series, which show strong, liberated individuals, confident and at ease in their most beautiful and vulnerable moments. As Ed Templeton writes in his afterword to this volume, "the nude swimmer is floating in a void of quiet solitude, the gentle pressure of being underwater enclosing her form like a baby in a womb and nothing exists outside of this world. A lone figure amidst a sea of blues and greys and frenetic sunlight performing a solitary dance for the photographer above, choosing movements and directions, twisting and swooping, contorting and expelling breaths painting a picture of form and light together." The Swimming Pool offers a deep and inspiring view of the human form.

PUBLISHER
Um Yeah Arts

BOOK FORMAT
Hardcover, 12.5 x 11 in. / 96 pgs / 26 color / 41 bw

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date 6/28/2016
Out of stock indefinitely

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: SPRING 2016 p. 102   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9781942884002 TRADE
List Price: $55.00 CDN $72.50 GBP £50.00

AVAILABILITY
Not available

John Severson's SURF

Published by Damiani/PUKA PUKA.
Foreword by Gerry Lopez. Interview by Nathan Howe. Afterword by Drew Kampion.

John Severson (born 1933) revolutionized pop culture's vision of surfing and surf culture through his prolific artistic output that transverses decades and disciplines. He began his career as a painter, selling his canvases at Long Beach State College. These first works consisted of oil paintings, photographs, drawings and prints relating to Hawaiian and Californian surf culture. In 1958, Severson expanded his repertoire and created a series of popular surf movies, such as Surf Safari, Surf Fever, Big Wednesday and Pacific Vibrations. While his were among the first surf movies, it was the posters associated with them, hugely popular when issued in the 1950s and 1960s, that remain collector favorites today. Showcased in these early posters, his graphic skills translated easily to Surfer magazine, which he founded in 1960. The magazine was the first to celebrate and revolutionize the art and sport of surfing, establishing it as a powerful pop culture phenomenon. The first issue was a 36-page collection of black-and-white photos, cartoon sketches and short articles--every aspect of which was created by Severson himself. His photographs appeared in Life, Sports Illustrated, Paris Match and other print venues. John Severson's SURF explores Severson's surf odyssey through painting, photography, film and publishing. Featuring an interview with the artist by Nathan Howe, artist and curator at Puka Puka, Hawaii, foreword by Gerry Lopez, surfer and co-founder of Lightning Bolt surfboards and afterword by Drew Kampion, author and former editor of Surfer, John Severson's SURF documents the birth of surf culture and serves as a testament to our ocean.

PUBLISHER
Damiani/PUKA PUKA

BOOK FORMAT
Hardcover, 9.5 x 12.25 in. / 212 pgs / illustrated throughout.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date 9/30/2014
Out of stock indefinitely

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: FALL 2014 p. 49   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9788862083263 TRADE
List Price: $45.00 CDN $60.00

AVAILABILITY
Not available

Joni Sternbach: Surf Site Tin Type

Published by Damiani.
Text by Lyle Rexer, April M. Watson, Chris Malloy, Johnny Abegg.

Surf Site Tin Type is an homage to a sport, a way of life, and a tribute to the people who practice it. Over the past decade Brooklyn-based photographer Joni Sternbach has traveled around the world, creating tintype portraits of contemporary surfers using the nineteenth-century wet-plate collodion process. Stunning in their detail, these one-of-a-kind images evoke the romance and adventure of surfing, and the bold individualism of the men and women who live to ride the waves. Working with a large-format camera and using hand-poured plates that are prepared and developed on location, Sternbach has profiled a fascinating range of surfers, both well known and unknown, on prized surfing beaches. Locations include Montauk and Malibu in the United States, Byron Bay in Australia and Cornwall in England. Typical surfing photographs are action shots, riding the mighty wave and in vivid color, whereas Sternbach turns to a historic technique to capture something essential and even primordial in the portraits and settings, recalling a tradition of nineteenth-century anthropological photography. Surf Site Tin Type features texts by noted photo critic and historian Lyle Rexer, curator April M. Watson, and Chris Malloy and Johnny Abegg, both well-known surfers and filmmakers.

PUBLISHER
Damiani

BOOK FORMAT
Hardcover, 12 x 9.75 in. / 192 pgs / illustrated throughout.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date 3/24/2015
Out of stock indefinitely

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: SPRING 2015 p. 61   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9788862083805 TRADE
List Price: $45.00 CDN $60.00

AVAILABILITY
Not available

Fire Island Modernist: Horace Gifford and the Architecture of Seduction

Published by Metropolis Books/Gordon de Vries Studio.
Foreword by Alastair Gordon. Text by Christopher Bascom Rawlins.

As the 1960s became The Sixties, architect Horace Gifford executed a remarkable series of beach houses that transformed the terrain and culture of New York’s Fire Island. Growing up on the beaches of Florida, Gifford forged a deep connection with coastal landscapes. Pairing this sensitivity with jazzy improvisations on modernist themes, he perfected a sustainable modernism in cedar and glass that was as attuned to natural landscapes as to our animal natures. Gifford’s serene 1960s pavilions provided refuge from a hostile world, while his exuberant post-Stonewall, pre-AIDS masterpieces orchestrated bacchanals of liberation. Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift once spurned Hollywood limos for the rustic charm of Fire Island’s boardwalks. Truman Capote wrote Breakfast at Tiffany’s here. Diane von Furstenburg showed off her latest wrap dresses to an audience that included Halston, Giorgio Sant’ Angelo, Calvin Klein and Geoffrey Beene. Today, such a roster evokes the aloof, gated compounds of the Hamptons or Malibu. But these celebrities lived in modestly scaled homes alongside middle-class vacationers, all with equal access to Fire Island’s natural beauty. Blending cultural and architectural history, Fire Island Modernist ponders a fascinating era through an overlooked architect whose life, work and colorful milieu trace the operatic arc of a lost generation, and still resonate with artistic and historical import.

PUBLISHER
Metropolis Books/Gordon de Vries Studio

BOOK FORMAT
Hardcover, 9 x 12 in. / 204 pgs / 140 color / 100 bw.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date 5/30/2013
Active

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: SPRING 2013 p. 32   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9781938922091 TRADE
List Price: $60.00 CDN $85.00

AVAILABILITY
In stock

Tom Bianchi: Fire Island Pines

Polaroids 1975-1983

Published by Damiani.
Edited by Ben Smales. Introduction by Edmund White. Text by Tom Bianchi.

Growing up in the 1950s, Tom Bianchi would head into downtown Chicago and pick up 25-cent “physique” magazines at newsstands. In one such magazine, he found a photograph of bodybuilder Glenn Bishop on Fire Island. “Fire Island sounded exotic, perhaps a name made up by the photographer,” he recalls in the preface to his latest monograph. “I had no idea it was a real place. Certainly, I had no idea then that it was a place I would one day call home.” In 1970, fresh out of law school, Bianchi began traveling to New York, and was invited to spend a weekend at Fire Island Pines, where he encountered a community of gay men. Using an SX-70 Polaroid camera, Bianchi documented his friends’ lives in the Pines, amassing an image archive of people, parties and private moments. These images, published here for the first time, and accompanied by Bianchi’s moving memoir of the era, record the birth and development of a new culture. Soaked in sun, sex, camaraderie and reverie, Fire Island Pines conjures a magical bygone era.
Tom Bianchi was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago and graduated from Northwestern University School of Law in 1970. He became a corporate attorney, eventually working with Columbia Pictures in New York, painting and drawing on weekends. His artwork came to the attention of Betty Parsons and Carol Dreyfuss and they gave him his first one-man painting show in 1980. In 1984, he was given his first solo museum exhibition at the Spoleto Festival. After Bianchi’s partner died of AIDS in 1988, he turned his focus to photography, producing Out of the Studio, a candid portrayal of gay intimacy. Its success led to producing numerous monographs, including On the Couch, Deep Sex and In Defense of Beauty.

PUBLISHER
Damiani

BOOK FORMAT
Hardcover, 8.5 x 10 in. / 212 pgs / illustrated throughout.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date 5/31/2013
Active

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: SPRING 2013 p. 31   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9788862082709 TRADE
List Price: $50.00 CDN $69.95

AVAILABILITY
In stock