Extempore; | Reflections & Ruminations on Art & Personal History | Elicited & Edited by Michael Torosian.
[Toronto]: Lumiere Press, 1988. Octavo, 23.6 x 15.9 cm. Cased in quarter natural linen and grey Canson paper over boards. Printed paper label to the spine and ‘DH’ printed in black to the lower corner of the upper cover. pp. [7] 8-31 [5], plus an illustrated fold-out leaf measuring 22.4 x 29.2 cm open. A fine copy. The text was set in Linotype Fairfield with DeRoos for display. Printed on Mohawk Letterpress Text paper. The display-face accents were printed in blue. Two photographs printed from copy negatives on gelatin-silver paper are tipped in. The fold-out leaf reproduces a hand-rendered layout diagram by Heath; it was printed by offset at The Porcupine’s Quill. From a numbered edition of 150 copies. The present copy is number 22. A further 26 lettered copies were produced for the printer’s retention. Inscribed by David Heath on the recto of the third leaf and by Torosian in blue ink on the colophon page.
Accompanied by two loosely inserted prospectuses. Both advertise the press’s later production, Dave Heath: Korea | Photographs 1953–1954. Fiftieth Anniversary Portfolio (2004). Each prospectus is a single cut sheet, once-folded (measuring 11.4 x 30.5 cm open). Item #265
“David Heath was born in Philadelphia in 1931. His awareness of photography was initiated by the photo-essays of Life magazine and cultivated by an eclectic appetite that led him to count among his influences Wright Morris, Edward Weston, W. Eugene Smith and Robert Frank.
His passion for photographic self-expression found its form in A Dialogue with Solitude, characterized by James Borcoman, Curator of Photography, National Gallery of Canada, as ‘the most important book by a photographer in the 1960s.’
A recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1963 and 1964, Heath’s work is represented in numerous collections notably The Museum of Modern Art and George Eastman House. The only complete set of prints from ADWS now resides in The National Gallery of Canada.
For the past twenty years Heath has made an indelible imprint as a teacher at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto. His principal artistic media during this time have been slide shows and Polaroid sx-70 prints.” — Michael Torosian.
Price: $900.00