Auguste Galimard (1813-1880), Vitraux de l’Église Sainte-Clotilde [Windows of the Church of Sainte Clotilde], composés et dessinés par A. Galimard et photographiés par E. Baldus ([Paris], 1853. 15 salt prints from paper negatives. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2014- in process

In 1853, the French photographer Edouard Baldus (1813-1889) worked with the artist Auguste Galimard on a catalogue of his recent designs for the windows of the church of Sainte-Clotilde in Paris. Baldus photographed over a dozen separate windows (or sections of windows) and printed salt prints from the paper negatives.

The book they released has no publisher listed and so, we assume it was self-published by Galimard. According to Malcolm Daniel’s catalogue on Baldus, there are several variant editions with different photographs pasted on the title page. Ours has five separate prints depicting angels. There are 10 additional salt prints inside the volume.

Note, if the prints look yellow or faded it is only my poor photography. The prints in this volume are in beautiful condition.

The only other copy OLCL lists in the United States, is at the Frick Art Museum Library in New York City.

Director and stage designer Edward Gordon Craig (1872-1966) is the subject of a group of photographs recently acquired by the Graphic Arts Collection. In particular is the print seen above, showing Craig with his lover, the violinist Elena Fortuna Meo (1879–1957) and their two children, Nelly (1904–1975) and Edward (called Teddy) Carrick (1905–1998), from around 1910 when they were living in Florence. Craig’s mother was the actress Ellen Alice Terry (1847–1928) who was married for a time to the Pre-Raphealite painter George Frederick Watts (1817-1904). Meo’s father, Gaetano Meo (1850-1925), was also a painter and frequent model for the Pre-Raphealites.

The photograph below of Craig at a bookcase comes from the collection of the Irish stage designer Anne Butler Yeats (1919-2001), daughter of W.B. Yeats. Several others, showing Craig at age 89, were taken by Craig’s biographer and collector, Arnold Rood, while they were together in Venice in 1961. The last photograph posted here–Craig is seen writing–was taken by David Lees (1916–2004), his son by the poet Dorothy Nevile Lees, and is inscribed by Craig in ink at the top, “Another aged affair but good, 1950 Camassade” and at bottom “For d[Daphne] from Partie.”

This untitled photo album, signed “with best wishes from Grace” holds 24 cut and mounted photographs from the late 1800s. Views include the south shore of Lake Michigan and other Chicago sites. There is reason to believe that the album comes from the family of Robert Burns (1844-1916), Detroit newspaper editor and publisher. We have not yet identified any of the individuals photographed.

Gwenn Thomas, Photographs documenting Jack Smith’s “Fear Ritual of Shark Museum” performance, Cologne, December 1974, printed 2005 by the artist. 52 gelatin silver prints. Graphic Arts Collection 2014- in process. One of an edition of 5. Gift of the artist.

Forty years ago on the grounds of the Cologne Zoo during the Kölner Kunstverein’s Projekt 74, Gwenn Thomas photographed Jack Smith (1932-1989) in a performance he called Fear Ritual of Shark Museum. Hildegarde Lutze also appeared in cameo as Smith’s wardrobe assistant.

At the time, Thomas was a contributing photographer for the avant-garde magazine Avalanche and her work appeared as the cover story in issue 10 under the heading “A thousand and one irrational jingoleanisms of lucky landlord paradise. Cologne Museum Festival of Fear, 1974.”

Thanks to the generous donation by the artist, Princeton now holds one complete set of these photographs. Thomas’s work is at once documentation and fine art, capturing the temporal performance of this seminal figure post-war art. Although not as well-known, Smith’s work is often featured alongside such artists as Joseph Beuys, Cindy Sherman, Vito Acconci, and of course, Andy Warhol (who once described Smith as “the only person I would ever copy”).

On the same day, artist Birgit Hein made a separate documentary film also under Projekt 74, which can be viewed on vimeo:

Avalanche (New York, N.Y.: Kineticism Press, 1970-1976). Marquand Library (SAX): Rare Books Oversize N1 .A95f

Adam Fuss, Mask (Aspen: Baldwin Gallery, 2005). Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2014- in process

Mask was published in conjunction with the 2005 exhibition of photograms by Adam Fuss, held at the Baldwin Gallery in Aspen, Colorado. Twenty-five tritone reproductive plates are printed on stiff brown paper, housed in a cardboard slipcase. This first edition was limited to 1000 copies.

Exploring the rich iconography of African masks, Fuss placed the 3D objects directly onto light-sensitive paper, varying the exposure time to create eerie contrasts between light and shadow. What results are ghost-like images offering the hidden identities within these magical objects.

“In the midst of the digital age, Adam Fuss creates pictures of rare beauty and mystery with traditional and historical photographic techniques. Working without a camera, Fuss employs the 19th-Century photogram process involving the most basic elements of photography: objects and light.”—press release