HAJEK-HALKE (Heinz). — Photography. Photo-Graphics. Light-Gr - Lot 117

HAJEK-HALKE (Heinz). — Photography. Photo-Graphics. Light-Graphics. Berlin, Berlinische Galerie and Galerie Werner Kunze, 1978. Square 8vo, paperback, illustrated photographic cover, 60 pp., numerous black-and-white photographic reproductions. First edition of this catalog published on the occasion of the 80th birthday of Heinz Hajek-Halke (1898–1983), a leading figure in German experimental photography. The book is Volume VI of the Bildende Kunst Berlin series and includes contributions by Eberhard Roters, Werner Rhode, and Walter Boje. The bibliography from the Berlinische Galerie lists 60 pages and 40 illustrations. The volume traces the various periods of Hajek-Halke’s work, from his early photomontages and photographic experiments of the 1920s and 1930s to his explorations of Foto-Grafik and Licht-Grafik. The reproduced compositions reflect his penchant for double exposure, photomontage, the nude, and lighting effects, which established him as one of the most original figures of the German photographic avant-garde. An interesting bibliographic detail: the title page of your copy specifies that an edition with identical content was published concurrently on the occasion of the exhibition at the Kunze Gallery in Berlin, in a limited run of only 500 copies. The available bibliographic records confirm this print run of 500 for this parallel edition. The historical significance of this catalog is further enhanced by the fact that the Werner Kunze Gallery published, in the same year, a portfolio of 12 silver gelatin prints by Hajek-Halke, limited to 28 copies. A copy of this portfolio, accompanied by the exhibition poster bearing the same title as the catalog, sold for €5,000 (including fees) at Lempertz in 2020. This obviously does not assign that value to the catalog, but it confirms the importance of this 1978 exhibition in the artist’s bibliography. Good copy. A few slight marks and creases from handling on the cover; a small tear/crease in the upper right corner visible on the title page; interior is clean.