‘Throwback’ Book of the Day – sort of.  It’s a new facsimile re-print of the 1959 classic  > Philippe Halsman's Jump Book. Damiani. “With this beautiful facsimile edition, Damiani brings the classic 1959 photo-book back into print. Philippe Halsman's Jump Book gathers nearly 200 Halsman portraits of famous subjects in midair. These uniquely witty and energetic images of airborne movie stars, politicians, royalty, artists and authors have become an important part of Halsman's photographic legacy.
For a period of six years in the mid-1950s, Halsman ended his portrait sessions by asking his sitters to jump. Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, Edward Steichen, Audrey Hepburn, Robert Oppenheimer, John Steinbeck, Weegee, Aldous Huxley, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí, Brigitte Bardot and Groucho Marx all took the leap of faith. It is a tribute to Halsman's powers of persuasion that even Richard Nixon, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and other figures not famed for their spontaneity were talked into "rising" to the challenge.
Philippe Halsman's Jump Book was first published in 1959, and included a delightful essay by Halsman on the new science of "Jumpology." "When you ask a person to jump," Halsman wrote, "his attention is mostly directed toward the act of jumping, and the mask falls, so that the real person appears." The images are witty, energetic and unexpected.”

Book of the day > Désirée Van Hoek - Skid Row. Self Published. “Skid Row Los Angeles is home to some 15,000 (former) homeless people. Dutch photographer Désirée vanHoek documented the neighbourhood between 2007 and 2015. Being a former fashion photographer, her focus is on people’s dwellings, possessions, and clothes. The result is a unique portrait of a neighbourhood that is changing rapidly. Simultaneously, it’s a universal story about the way people survive under the most difficult circumstances. The book includes an introduction by Gale Holland, Skid Row reporter of the ‘Los Angeles Times’. “

Book of the day > Bond By Design: The Art of the James Bond Films. DK.  “Bond By Design: The Art of the James Bond Films gives an exclusive tour through EON Productions' James Bond archives - a treasure trove of set, storyboard, vehicle, gadget and costume designs, many of which have never been published before.

Accessing EON Productions' vast archive of more than 50 years of art and design, featuring the work of legendary Bond film designers such as Ken Adam, Peter Lamont and Syd Cain, the book provides a unique, spectacular and fascinating insight into the longest-running film franchise of all time. Revealing the craft behind the creation of famous sets, such as Stromberg's Atlantis base in The Spy Who Loved Me and Drax's shuttle launch site in Moonraker, as well as technical drawings of Bond's gadget-laden Aston Martin DB5 the book includes two exclusive, full-colour prints of Bond film designs.

Bond By Design: The Art of the James Bond Films also brings the James Bond story right up to date with behind-the-scenes artwork from the newest film, SPECTRE. With two exclusive prints and authoritative text by EON's own archivist, Meg Simmonds, Bond by Design provides unique, spectacular, and fascinating insights into this hugely successful film franchise.”

Book of the day and Book Signing tomorrow! Join us Saturday 10/10, 4-6.  We promise a shamelessly cool micro-climate, cold drinks, and Ron Jude!  Book of the day > Ron Jude: Lago. Mack Books, @mack_books. Want a signed book but can’t make it? You can pre-order one on our website until noon tomorrow. “In Lago, Ron Jude returns to the California desert of his early childhood as if a detective in search of clues to his own identity. In a book of 54 photographs made between 2011 and 2014, he attempts to reconcile the vagaries of memory (and the uncertainty of looking) with our need to make narrative sense of things. Using a desolate desert lake as a theatrical backdrop, Jude meanders through the arid landscape of his youth, making note of everything from venomous spiders to discarded pornography. If one considers these traces to be a coded language of some sort, Jude’s act of photographing and piecing them together becomes a form of cryptography – like a poetic archeology that, rather than attempting to arrive at something conclusive, looks for patterns and rhythms that create congruity out of the stuttering utterances of the visible world. According to Jude, “these harmonies, when we’re lucky enough to find them, are probably the closest we can get to discovering actual ‘meaning’ and grasping the potency of place.”

‘Throwback’ book of the day > FOUR ABSTRACT CLASSICISTS. San Francisco & Los Angeles, CA: San Francisco Museum of Art & Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1959. First Edition. Designed by Louis Danziger. This is elegant catalogue published in conjunction with the ground-breaking 1959 San Francisco Museum of Art exhibition of ten paintings each by Karl Benjamin, Lorser Feitelson, Frederick Hammersley, and John McLaughlin entitled "Four Abstract Classicists". Buy it here now!

Book of the day > Peter Schlesinger: A Photographic Memory 1968-1989. Damiani.

“The photographs of artist Peter Schlesinger are a visual diary of an extraordinary life that intersected with some of the brightest names in the worlds of art, fashion, and society. Schlesinger’s remarkable journey began in 1966 when as an 18 year old student at UCLA he met the artist David Hockney. The two moved to London, where Schlesinger was introduced to the city's fashionable bohemian society. There, as well as on trips, Schlesinger met and photographed some of the great personalities of the day, including Cecil Beaton, Paloma Picasso, Grace Coddington, Tina Chow, Christopher Isherwood, and Manolo Blahnik – to name just a few.

This beautifully produced book presents an overview of 30 years of photographic work from Schlesinger’s archives. In addition to intimate portraits, the book includes Schlesinger’s evocative still lives, which convey the romance, humor, and elegance of their time. This is the first monograph to present the full range of Schlesinger’s photographic work.”

Book of the day > The Belgians: An Unexpected Fashion Story. Hatje Cantz. Surreal, avant-garde and explicit are three keywords that are commonly associated with Belgian fashion. This exhibition catalogue gives a unique historic overview of Belgian fashion, starting with the legendary Antwerp Six--including Dries van Noten, Walter Van Beirendonck and Ann Demeulemeester--and leading up to the individualistic creations of Martin Margiela, A.F. Vandevorst and Raf Simons. The catalogue also highlights the work of several influential players in various fashion and art disciplines. Additionally, it touches upon the importance of the fashion academies, especially the Antwerp Academy and La Cambre in Brussels, and documents emerging talent such as Jean-Paul Lespagnard and Christian Wijnants.

‘Throwback’ item of the day > Robbie Conal Poster. Firmly in the lineage of 20th Century political artist/satirists John Heartfield, Hans Haacke, and Klaus Staeck, Robbie Conal (@robbieconal) is renowned for his midnight guerrilla postering raids of the Los Angeles urban landscape. This poster featuring the image of former Supreme Court Justice (and anti-abortion proponent) William Rehnquist was acquired directly from the artist's studio at the time of its release in 1992 - and is NOT a later reprint. $ 20, available at arcanabooks.com.

Book of the day > Christian Patterson:  Bottom of the Lake. Koenig Books. “Bottom of the Lake is a 256-page facsimile of artist Christian Patterson's family telephone book for his hometown, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, printed in 1973, soon after Patterson's birth.
This artist's book includes found markings and reproductions of materials inserted in the phone book in addition to Patterson's drawings, photographs and marginalia. This book-within-a-book carefully combines the fact-based phone book with the artist's highly subjective re-imagination of his hometown, playfully juxtaposing different documentary forms and ways of seeing to create a deeply personal, darkly humorous "other" book.
The experience of reading Bottom of the Lake extends beyond its pages with an interactive feature: a telephone number attached to the book connects users with over 100 audio experiences, mixing field recordings, found archival material and performances that recreate the artist's hometown.”

Today we feature High Desert Test Sites Postcards !

Each year a carefully curated selection of limited-edition artist postcards is produced to benefit High Desert Test Sites, a Joshua Tree based non-profit that supports intimate and immersive experiences and exchanges between artists, critical thinkers, and general audiences – challenging all to expand their definition of art to take on new areas of relevancy.  Sales of the postcards help support future HDTS programming & submissions for new postcards are due October 1st. Available in Joshua Tree and from Arcana ! @highdeserttestsites