So let me warn you first before you waste your time reading. I'm very ambivalent about selling this book. That's not a selling strategy. If you want this book you're going to have to want it badly. I've priced all my other books Very competitively. Not this time. Here's what I know. 1)there is no other copy of this book anywhere for sale. 2) There have been two 'similar' copies listed at auction. One is described as an original english edition(titled Pictures of a Factory) and sold for 194 euros which was the equivalent of about $250. The other, when up for auction, stated in it's description (translating) ' First Edition. 101 photographs in black and white. Reprint legends slipped into the book'. It also stated that the book was printed in 1961. It had an estimated price of 150 to 250 euros and didn't sell.  Worldcat says that the 1961 publication was the 'auflage 2'. They state that the earliest edition was published in 1960 by Fretz & Wasmuth. That is this one for sale here. So i have not found a record of this Swiss First Edition ever coming up for sale. 

Lebendiger Stahl. Bilder Kurt Blum. Text von Michele Parrella. In German.

Fretz & Wasmuth Verlag AG Zurich 1960. First Edition (SD). There is a page in the book -Bilderverzeichnis-a list of the names of the 101 photographs in the book. There is also a 11 by 5 1/2 inch card with 'Bilderverzeichnis' and the cover design in B&W at it's top which also lists these names.

Kurt Blum

Kurt Blum (* August 25 1922 in Bern , † December 30 2005 ) was a Swiss photographer and documentary filmmaker .

Life 

Kurt Blum graduated from 1939 to 1942 a photography course in Burgdorf and studied from 1940 to 1942 graphics, painting and photography at the School of Applied Arts in Bern (now University of the Arts, Bern ). He initially worked as a photographer for the National Library of Bern and then as a freelance industrial photographer and documentary filmmaker for industrial companies. In the 1950s and 1960s, Blum created photographs and films for industrial clients as well as documentaries about artists, including one about Pablo Picasso . In 1981 he opened a gallery for paintings and photography in Praz / Vully.

His work has appeared in numerous international solo and group exhibitions and has been published in various photography books. Blum is one of the most important representatives of 20th century photography. His works are in several museums and collections, for example, in the Kunstmuseum Bern  and are offered as collectors' items at high prices at auctions.

Blum is best known for his portraits of famous artists. He portrayed Fernand Leger , Georges Braque , Pablo Picasso, Sam Francis , Mark Rothko , Alberto Giacometti , Marc Chagall , Willem de Kooning and many other contemporary artists. Exceptional about his portraits is that they are done almost exclusively in the studios of the artists and gave an important insight into their work.

Awards 

  • 1951: Great photo prize of the magazine Camera
  • 1960: Gold medal Venice for the film "Man, fire and iron"
  • 1985: Great photo prize of the Canton of Berne (appreciation of the entire work)

Literature 

  • Bernese Art Society (ed.): Kurt Blum au milieu des artistes. Foreword: Eberhard W. Kornfeld . Exhibition catalog, Gallery cellar. Editions Ides et Calendes, Paris, 1987, ISBN 2825800643 The annual gift of the Bernese Art Society. 1994, ISBN 2-8258-0063-5 (German)
  • Fotostiftung Switzerland (ed.): Kurt Blum, Backlit - Photographs With texts by Nanni Baltzer, Martin Gasser, Sylvie Henguely, Thilo Koenig and Fred Zaugg. Limmat Verlag, Zurich 2012, ISBN 9783857916717 . (German)

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