FELDMANN, Hans-Peter.

The uncommon portfolio of Feldmann’s four photobooks published by Edition Staeck.

Four vols. in various formats, all orig. gray cardboard wrappers, hand-stamped, staple-bound & housed in the orig. publisher’s cardboard portfolio (tape over folds, as issued). Heidelberg: Edition Staeck, 1971-72.

The jointly published collection of four Bilderhefte by Hans-Peter Feldmann (1941-2023), with the original stamped folder. The artist self-published nearly all of his early cryptic photobooks, except for two exceptions: the present four by Rolf and Klaus Staeck’s Edition Staeck, and three in 1973 by gallerist Gian Enzo Sperone. Our example of the Staeck group is neither signed nor numbered; the publisher also offered a “deluxe” edition of 50 signed and numbered by Feldmann on the title-pages.

1. 9 Bilder [Bicyclists]. 9 full-page b&w illus. [12] pp. Heidelberg: 1971. KB 9.

2. 152 Bilder [Women’s Portraits]. 152 small b&w illus. [8] pp. Heidelberg: 1971. KB 12.

3. 15 Bilder [Trees]. 15 small b&w illus. [4] pp. Heidelberg: 1972. KB 17.

4. 10 Bilder [Sailboats]. 10 full-page b&w illus. [12] pp. Heidelberg: 1972. KB 22.

The photobooks are in fine condition; as with every copy we have seen, tape (a little loose) has been added to the folds of the original publisher’s portfolio. We presume this was done by Edition Staeck shortly after the folders were produced. WorldCat locates but a few examples of this portfolio in institutional collections.

❧ “The small artist’s books simply entitled either Bild (Picture) or Bilder (Pictures) that Hans Peter Feldmann made between 1968 and 1976 constitute one of the most important bodies of artist’s bookworks in the twentieth century, along with those of Ruscha and Boltanski. In Feldmann’s case, it is perhaps more difficult to explain why, but their utter simplicity and studied lack of artifice is a good place to begin. The books are invariably of modest size, most often with brown covers rather like school exercise books, in which varying numbers of found photographs of a particular subject category are reproduced cheaply.”–Parr & Badger, The Photobook: A History, Vol. II, p. 158.

G. Kühnast, ed., Hans-Peter Feldmann: Bücher, Publikationen, Hefte, 1960er Jahre-2021 (2023).

Anne Moeglin-Delcroix, Esthétique du Livre d’Artiste: Une Introduction à l’art contemporain (2nd ed.: 2012), pp. 226-27.