Catleen, Peking Studies
Catleen, Peking Studies
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Catleen, Ellen (d. i. E. Thorbecke). Peking Studies. (Sketches by F(riedrich) H. Schiff). Shanghai, Kelly & Walsh 1934. Folio (38 x 27 cm.). 87, (1) S. mit teils ganzs. Duotone-Abbildungen und teils farbigen Illustrationen. Illustr. Orig.-Leinenband mit Deckelbild und Deckeltitel auf rotem Seidenband. Parr/Lundgren, The Chinese Photobook 60. – „Ellen Thorbecke (née Kolban, and also known as Ellen Catleen) was already established as a freelance journalist in Berlin before she moved to China in 1930 with her new husband, Willem Thorbecke, the Dutch ambassador to China. All four of the titles collected here feature a lively, whimsical collaboration between Ellen Thorbecke as photographer and Friedrich H. Schiff, an Austrian caricaturist who arrived in Shanghai about 1928. The weave of photography and illustration is played out in Schiff’s drawings, accompanying or often, in later titles, superimposed upon or continuing the line of Thorbecke’s photos. The handwritten titles, dramatic collaging, and highly graphic arrangement and use of photographs highlight the collaborative and inventive approach to the layout of each book. Each book also includes texts, both informative and fanciful; taken together, these titles offer unique insight into an expatriate’s perspective on life in China’s major cities during the 1930s. In Peking Studies, Thorbecke’s photographs and Schiff’s sketches combine to create a charming and memorable, albeit selective, visual record of interwar Beijing. The book is an account, totally imagined, of a tour-a tour de force, in fact-of the city by the stout Chinese Mr. Wu and the lanky European Mr. Pim, both inventions of the authors. Wu and Pim appear on the cover and throughout the book in drawings: Wu with a folding fan, Pim in a white suit and hat, with a camera. The book is a montage of photos, drawings, collages, text, labels, and black, white, and red colorings; the text includes a bit of social history as well. A fullpage colered map of Beijing (Peking) shows a yellowheaded Wu pointing out to a red-faced Pim some of the famous sights of the city“ (Martin Parr). – Deckel leicht angestaubt, sehr gutes sauberes Exemplar. – Illustrated original cloth binding with an illustration on the cover and the title on a red silk ribbon. – The cover is slightly dusty, but it is a very good, clean copy.
Unser Preis: EUR 700,-- |
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