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Deruytter, Wouter (Artist/Photographer) & Wood, John (Contributor) : Cowboy Code

Arena Editions, Santa Fe, NM, 2000

ISBN 1892041340

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 148 pages. The photographer's fourth collection. Wouter Deruytter's very first title to be published in the United States. The first and only edition. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. A brilliant production by James Crump and Elsa Kendall: Oversize-volume format. Brown cloth boards with titles embossed on cover and spine, as issued. Photographs by Wouter Deruytter. Essay, "Youthful Elegance and The Masks of Destiny", by the great photography critic and scholar John Wood. Printed on pristine-whtie, thick uncoated stock paper by EBS in Verona, Italy to the highest standards. The reproduction quality is exemplary in every respect. In pictorial DJ with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Presents Wouter Deruytter's "Cowboy Code". The immensely talented Belgian photographer's homage to the American Cowboy and his way of life. The great American writer Annie Proulx ("Brokeback Mountain") has convincingly suggested that the cowboy may have a steady girlfriend or full-fledged wife, but his deepest bonds are with other cowboys. Wouter Deruytter studied with Nan Goldin, Duane Michals, and Bruce Weber, and has steadily gained a considerable reputation in Europe. This book was intended in part to gain recognition for him in the United States. "Well-known for his images of people in the masks and costumes of their identities, from the time-traveling duo McDermott & McGough to drag queens to circus performers, Deruytter has turned his attention to the American West. For the past three summers, he has been photographing cowboys and small town rodeos in Montana. The rodeo cowboy is an omnipresent image in American culture, a modern-day folk hero and the subject of plays, movies, television, novels and all the other arts. But in these photographs from small, non-commercial rodeos, Deruytter brings to light a more homemade image than what we have become accustomed to. Deruytter's cowboys are not one-dimensional anachronisms: They tell a great mythic tale but they also suggest several historical parallels and force us to remember vanishing things we like to think of as permanent American values. They carefully document the small-town rodeo and ultimately they exude a sensuality and youthful elegance these cowboys may not be aware of. These are eloquent and sensual images that bring to light another side of the cowboy myth in America" (John Wood). An absolute "must-have" title for Wouter Deruytter collectors. This copy is very boldly, elaborately, and beautifully signed, placed, and dated (in the year of publication) in blue ink-pen on the title page by the photographer: "Wouter Deruytter NYC 2000". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary photography classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed, placed, and publication-year dated copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. A rare signed copy thus. 70 duotone plates. One of the most brilliant artist/photographers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER WOUTER DERUYTTER TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1892041340.

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