RIBOUD (Marc). China. Travel Snapshots. - Lot 255

RIBOUD (Marc). China. Travel Snapshots. Paris, Arthaud, 1980. Large square in-4, publisher’s cardboard binding with an illustrated photographic dust jacket, 102 black-and-white photographs by Marc Riboud. ISBN 2-7003-0334-2. First edition of this important photo book devoted to China, published by Arthaud in 1980—a date confirmed by the BnF and Marc Riboud’s official archives. The book brings together photographs taken by Riboud during his various trips to China, from his first visit in 1957 through 1980. More than a systematic photo essay, it constitutes, according to the photographer himself, a “picture book”: a series of observations of Chinese society and its transformations. It showcases what makes Riboud’s work so powerful: street scenes, farmers and workers, agricultural labor, crowds, schools, portraits, and everyday gestures. The images vividly capture the transition from Maoist China to the country that began to open up at the turn of the 1980s. The final photograph mentioned by Riboud in his preface—of Chinese people having their picture taken in front of a car in the Forbidden City—strikes him precisely as the symbol of this transformation. Provenance: red stamp reading “Bibliothèque DRT Amiens” on the half-title page, with the handwritten call number “770 RIB.” This is therefore a copy from a library. Condition: a fairly good copy. The binding and interior appear sturdy; some signs of wear. The dust jacket is intact but rubbed, with wear and minor damage to the edges and corners.

Estimate:$22.4

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