LOST BODIES. - Lot 74

LOST BODIES. José Grisel Collection. Paris, L'Instantané Éditions, circa 2004. Large quarto, illustrated hardcover by the publisher. First edition of this album dedicated to the remarkable collection assembled by José Grisel, one of France’s most important collectors of early photographs of female nudes. The book reproduces 136 photographs, primarily from the 1880s to the late 1930s, offering an overview of the aesthetic evolution of the photographic nude, from academic and pictorialist studies to Art Deco and modernist compositions of the interwar period. The photographs, most of which are anonymous or by major studios and photographers who are now sometimes forgotten, illustrate the history of techniques, poses, the representation of the female body, and photographic taste. An introduction traces the origins of the collection, which was assembled primarily from the former collection of Michel Simon, a renowned amateur collector of erotic photography. Condition: a very fine copy; the publisher’s hardcover binding is in excellent condition; the interior is perfectly fresh.