Katz, Leslie George

Berenice Abbott: A Tribute [Association of International Photography Art Dealers Award Address]

New York: Association of International Photography Art Dealers, Inc., 1981.
A PERSONAL TRIBUTE TO ONE OF AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHY’S GREAT PIONEERS.
An uncommon commemorative pamphlet issued for the 1981 presentation honoring Berenice Abbott by the Association of International Photography Art Dealers.
Written by Leslie George Katz and distributed on the occasion of Abbott receiving the Association’s Annual Award for Significant Contributions to the Field of Photography, the pamphlet serves both as a tribute and as a concise meditation on artistic modernism, documentary photography, and the expatriate American creative community in Paris between the wars.

Illustrated with black-and-white photographic reproductions including portraits of Abbott, Sylvia Beach, and Djuna Barnes, the text situates Abbott within the lineage of Whitman, Atget, Man Ray, Hemingway, and the broader modernist search for artistic authenticity and personal freedom.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Heavy-stock stapled wraps. Illustrated throughout with black-and-white photographic reproductions. Slim pamphlet format measuring approximately 4 × 9 inches; 8 unnumbered pages. Sourced directly from the estate of Horizon Press founder Ben Raeburn

CONDITION: Good-plus. The stapled binding remains firm, sound, and secure. The internal heavy stock pages are clean, bright, and completely free of marginalia, highlighting a light and even age-toning. The outer wraps exhibit moderate handling smudges and light, localized soiling along the spine fold and extremities consistent with decades of shelf storage.

Ephemeral institutional tributes issued for photography awards and gallery presentations were typically produced in small numbers for attendees and participants. Surviving examples documenting Berenice Abbott’s late-career recognition appear infrequently in the marketplace. OCLC lists 4 institutional holdings: ARTEXTE, Met – NYC, Princeton, and Claremount.

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Leslie George Katz was a monumental force in the mid-century New York art world and the founder of the Eakins Press. Known for his uncompromising standards in book design, Katz famously funded his publishing ventures by selling off his family's private collection of Thomas Eakins paintings, dedicating his life to creating books that functioned as permanent material monuments to American creative genius.

This specific artifact captures the post-war consolidation of the photography art market, produced for the newly formed Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD). Katz's address masterfully reframes Gertrude Stein's 'Lost Generation' moniker as a 'terrible misnomer,' arguing instead that Abbott and her expatriate contemporaries in 1920s Paris were dedicated, highly skilled questers searching for an unvarnished vernacular reality.

The presence of this copy in the personal archive of Ben Raeburn reveals the tight-knit network of independent New York publishers who operated outside mainstream commercial channels. Raeburn and Katz were direct peers who shared a commitment to avant-garde literature, graphic excellence, and architectural design, making this specimen a poignant token of professional respect between two of the era's great boutique bookmakers.

SCHOLARLY FEATURES
+++ Design: Reflects the minimalist, museum-grade layout sensibilities championed by Katz's own Eakins Press, utilizing sharp typographic hierarchy, deep margins, and an intentional arrangement that elevates the pamphlet from a basic program to a typographic keepsake. 
+++ Scholarship: Offers an authentic, contemporary critical evaluation of Abbott's legacy, detailing her early encouragement by Sadakichi Hartmann and her historic rescue of Eugène Atget's photographic archive. 
+++ Influence: Serves as a vital document in the institutional coronation of photography as a fine art discipline, tracing Abbott's modernist lineage directly through the grand American artistic tradition of Poe, Melville, and Thomas Eakins.

SUBJECTS: Berenice Abbott, Leslie George Katz, Eakins Press, AIPAD, History of Photography, Expatriate Artists, Sylvia Beach, Djuna Barnes, Man Ray, Fine Press Ephemera, New York Publishing History, Ephemera, Association Copy, Exhibition Keepsake, First Edition.

Item #22029

Price: $45.00