Dancing Ledge
Derek Jarman
Edited by Shaun Allen 
Photography by Gerald Incandela, Roy Dean, Bridget Holm and others


Description: Woodstock NY: The Overlook Press, 1993, Stated First American Edition. Originally published in 1984 in softcover, this hardcover edition (with dust jacket) includes the 1991 “A FOOTNOTE TO MY PAST” with Jarman writing of “The years since have seen the renewal and reinvention of my cinema […], my move to Prospect Cottage, the building of the garden, catching the virus and falling in Love."   In this autobiography, Jarman provides his own insight on the history of gay life in London (60's-80's), discusses his own acceptance of his homosexuality at age 16 and accounts of the financial and emotional hardships of a life devoted to filmmaking. Within the 249 pages are photographs by Gerald Incandela, Roy Dean, Bridget Holm and others, and film stills from Jarman's films and others that he worked on like Ken Russell’s "The Devils" with Vanessa Redgrave.

“Jarman’s gifts, in prose as well as film, are spatial, visual, imagistic.” - The Sunday Times

Condition: Fine clean, tight and bright hardcover in a Near Fine Dust Jacket with just a hint of wear. Overall in remarkable condition, uncommon for this early Jarman book. 

Additional Information: Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman (1942 - 1994) was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener, and author. Well known as a pioneering film maker, Jarman was also the author of several important books including Dancing Ledge, which details his life until the age 40, a collection of poetry: A Finger in the Fishes Mouth, two volumes of diaries: Modern Nature and Smiling In Slow Motion and two treatises on his work in film and art: The Last of England (also published as Kicking the Pricks) and Chroma.

On 22 December 1986, Jarman was diagnosed as HIV positive and discussed his condition in public. His illness prompted him to move to Prospect Cottage, Dungeness in Kent, near the nuclear power station. In 1994, he died of an AIDS-related illness in London, aged 52. He is buried in the graveyard at St Clement's Church, Old Romney, Kent. A blue plaque commemorating Jarman was unveiled at Butler's Wharf in London on 19 February 2019, the 25th anniversary of his death.

Born in Tunisia, Gerald Incandela (b. 1952) studied in Tunis and Paris. He moved to Paris in 1969, where he received a philosophy degree and studied art history. He traveled extensively throughout Europe and made Super-8 camera movies in Berlin. While in London in 1974, he took up photography and learned to print by making copy prints of drawings for a London art dealer to offset his darkroom expenses. He also developed painterly printing techniques that involved using brushes. He moved to the United States in 1977. 
"“Painterly” is more suited to the work of Gerald Incandela—although he cannot be accused of painting envy. Incandela has subverted photography with its own tools and brought new focus to the dialogue between the eye of the artist, the eye of the camera and the eye of the viewer. Even when he abandons the camera, he does not abandon photography." - Klaus Kertess, ArtForum Magazine May 1981

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"Cave" meant a home for both the tangible touch of beautiful objects and a cozy virtual den for armchair exploration. "Modern" starts with the art and literature that went beyond realistic depictions to expressive use of color, non-traditional materials, and new techniques and mediums. Our focus has evolved to be on important pieces by cultural innovators that take their work in new, unexpected, and modern directions.