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Miller, Sandro (Photographer) & Keating, Prosper (Contributor) : American Bikers: Photographs By Sandro

Schirmer Mosel Publishers, Munich, Germany, 1998

ISBN 3823803697

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 88 pages. Collection of black-and-white portrait-photographs. One of the most valuable photography books of our time. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. A brilliant production by Sandro Miller and Schirmer Mosel: Oversize-volume format. Black hard boards with gray titles on spine, as issued. Photographs by Sandro Miller. Text by Prosper Keating. Printed in Novatone Patent Process on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper in Munich, Germany to the highest standards. The reproduction quality is exemplary in every respect, in particular the way its rich tonal range captures the dramatic lighting and skin texture of the subjects. In pictorial DJ with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Presents Sandro Miller's "American Bikers". His now-legendary and indispensable portrait gallery of American bikeriders. "Powerful portraits of people on the margins of society. First coming into contact with the biker culture in 1990 at a rally raising funds for handicapped children, Miller spent five years photographing these bikers at rallies across the United States. Likened by Keating to the work of Mathew Brady and Edward S. Curtis, these beautifully lit black-and-white images show men and women gazing directly into the camera, displaying the tattoos, buttons, patches, sunglasses, piercings, and beards that are the trademarks of their outlaw status. Identified by name, nickname, motorcycle, and place, they epitomize another kind of American Dream: Being constantly on the move. Each photograph is an unveiling, asserting a grave beauty, a kind of rapture, that is as close as can be to master templates of this singular, nomadic community" (Library Journal). Irving Penn is Sandro's mentor. Of all his photographic projects, "American Bikers" is his most Penn-like: Its dramatic lighting, tight framing, subtle use of props, and emphasis on skin tones, the gnarled, wrinkled, tattooed texture of his subjects' complexion that will put one in mind of great draftsmen (who were Penn's own inspirations). In turn, every lapidary artist will himself be inspired by the exquisite tattoo art that is permanently incised on these bikers' bodies. What a critic once said about the great European artist/draftsman Enki Bilal applies to Sandro Miller: "He indulges his love of texture to such a degree that the ugly becomes the beautiful" (Charley Parker). An absolute "must-have" title for Sandro Miller collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed and inscribed in black pen-marker on the half-title page by the photographer: "PEACE, Sandro". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. There is NO recipient named. This title is a contemporary photography classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed and inscribed copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. A rare signed copy thus. 71 Novatone plates. One of the most brilliant photographers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER SANDRO MILLER TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 3823803697.

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