Scarce early issue (Vol. 9 No. 3 - 1961) of greatly acclaimed photographic publication APERTURE.

This 40 page issue, one of most important, features a note by Jonathan Williams, "The Eyes of 3 Phantasts," about CLARENCE JOHN LAUGHLIN, FREDERICK SOMMER, AND WYNN BULLOCK with separate selections of work of each. In addition, there is a sheaf of images by Don Worth who was Ansel Adams’ first full-time assistant. Also an article on The Formulas for Depth Photography.

The magazine was founded in 1952 by a consortium of photographers and proponents of photography: Ansel Adams, Melton Ferris, Dorothea Lange, Ernest Louie, Barbara Morgan, Beaumont Newhall, Nancy Newhall, Dody Warren, and Minor White. It was the first journal since Alfred Stieglitz’s Camera Work to explore photography as a fine art. The journal’s mission, as stated in its inaugural issue:

Aperture has been originated to communicate with serious photographers and creative people everywhere, whether professional, amateur or student... Aperture is intended to be a mature journal in which photographers can talk straight to each other, discuss the problems that face photography as profession and art, share their experiences, comment on what goes on, descry the new potentials. We, who have founded this journal, invite others to use Aperture as a common ground for the advancement of photography.

Minor White was appointed by the founders to be the editor of the magazine, which was at first published out of San Francisco. The magazine's dimensions were initially modest (9 3/8 by 6 ¼ inches), and in its first two decades the photographs discussed and published in its pages were exclusively black and white (the preferred mode of most art photographers of the era). Many early issues were loosely organized around thematic concepts (such as “The Creative Approach” [vol. 2, no. 2, 1953], “The Controversial ‘Family of Man’” [vol. 3, no. 2, 1955], and “Substance and Spirit of Architectural Photography” [vol. 6, no. 4, 1958]), or were monographic publications (the first of these was vol. 6, no. 1, 1958, on Edward Weston).

In 1953 the editorial offices moved to Rochester, New York. (White joined the staff of the George Eastman House, and in 1955 began teaching at the Rochester Institute of Technology.) White was assisted with the magazine’s editorial and production tasks by Peter C. Bunnell. From the outset, the magazine was appreciated by its readers as “a much needed forum for serious photographers.”

Magazine measures 9 1/4 x 8 inches and is in overall excellent condition with only light cover wear (see scans).  There are no missing or damaged pages and all the inside pages are clean and bright. There are no bookplates, tears or underlining/highlighting of text or writing in the margins (see scans).

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