EL LISSITZKY and Il'ia ERENBURG.

Eu 1.000. OBLONG 8° (163 X 185 MM). 121 BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHS AND 2 BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOMONTAGES. ORIGINAL BLUE PAPER-COVERED BOARDS, in this introduction to the book, in which he describes how he used a right angle viewfinder attached to his Leica in order to catch them unawares as he was taking their photograph, does strike me as being rather at odds with his status as a fellow proletarian. As he boasts “I can talk about this without blushing; a writer has his own notions of honesty. Our entire life is spent peeping into windows and listening at the keyhole.” In his defence we must also admit that he was not a professional photographer used to the rough and tumble of taking photographs on the street and certainly, from personal experience, you soon learn that street-photography can produce some ‘interesting’ reactions from the people you photograph. But this inordinate pride in deception and dishonesty that Ehrenburg displays, in my opinion, speaks volumes about his character.… (altro)