Monday, September 29, 2008

Colour Sells.


Color Sells. Conde Nast Publications, Inc., New York and Greenwich, Conn., 1935. Folio (15 by 12 inches). Unpaged; (70 pp.) Photo-illustrated wrappers in photo-illustrated box.

How I wish I'd been able to view this book before it was auctioned.

"Rare thirties book features the acclaimed early color work of Bruehl-Bourges, which was featured in Conde Nast publications --(Vogue, Vanity Fair, and House & Garden). "...through the very depths of the depression, the Conde Nast organization enriched its magazines with the best examples of color photography...From May, 1932 to the end of 1934 these magazines produced 195 pages of color photography. These amazingly beautiful color photo reproductions...are the one important contribution to the publishing and printing art of today... The sixty-four subjects reproduced here are the creations of Anton Bruehl... He combines genius for artistic composition with thorough knowledge of stage-craft and sure mastery of lighting. He is ably seconded by Fernand Bourges. His thorough knowledge of the chemistry of dyes enables him to produce from his negative a perfect color transparency, which the engraver uses as his guide for color reproduction." Included are glamorous and dynamic images, including a little-known shot of Marlena Dietrich that epitomized her seductive charms, images of Art Deco jewels, fashion, and furnishings that enticed consumers, advertising photographs for cigarette and food goods, etc."

"The color cover of the box is a close-up of flowers shown in color-component dots. Inside the lid of the box is a label describing how the color process used dot formations and explaining that if the box cover was held at a distance, "the dot pattern disappears and the flowers retain their delicate gradations of color". Letter of explanation from the president of The International Printing Ink Corporation that provided the inks for the book laid in."

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