Bibliotheca
“Ballet” by Alexey Brodovitch
In Ballet, Brodovitch aimed to capture dance in the spontaneous, living present. Free of artistic preconceptions and animated by a sense of existential imperative, he immersed himself in the final performances of the Ballets Russes on tour in America. By the time the book was published in 1945, the arc of the revolutionary dance tradition ignited by Sergei Diaghilev and carried on by his artistic heirs had reached its end. Ballet stands as a unique document of this moment in dance history.
On the eve of the 80th anniversary of the publication of Ballet, this reissue brings Brodovitch's masterpiece back to life in all its material intensity with an experimental five-tone printing technique developed specially for the project.
Co-editors Nina Holland and Joshua Chuang also deliver a previously unknown story about the 1945 production that suggests Brodovitch's artistic achievement is not just one of the highlights, but a singularly radical work in the history of the photographic book and printing.
Little Steidl
With a program devoted to books by contemporary artists and designers, Little Steidl seeks to expand the artistic potential of offset lithography as a creative print medium. The publishing house follows a traditional work model in which all aspects of book development, design, and production, including printing, are carried out in its own bookmaking workshop in Göttingen, Germany. Little Steidl grew out of the Steidl publishing house and extends the Steidl printing and manufacturing tradition into a second generation under the direction of Nina Holland. The two houses collaborate with each other around a variety of print and educational projects. While Steidl’s primary focus is photography and the printing techniques applicable to photographic work, Little Steidl’s program is oriented around the contemporary arts, design, and typography. The printing program is specialized in the development of new bespoke printing techniques which are employed not only in Little Steidl books but also in a broad spectrum of print projects with artists, architects, cultural institutions, and record labels.
Little Steidl books capture the unique perspective of the artist. The books are works in their own right as opposed to documentations or interpretations of works that have their primary lives outside the book. Even when the source material for a book is taken from an existing body of sculpture, painting, drawing, photography, or the like, the book is designed and printed in an intensive collaboration with the artist and takes on a life of its own as a print work.