[Prague: Vilem Kriz, 1942]. First edition. Folio, [1] pp. with 7 original gelatin silver photographs, each 15 1/8 x 11 1/2 inches. The single printed sheet, which serves as the title and colophon is worn along three edges. The photographic prints are each SIGNED in pencil on the black reverse and most have very slight wear at a corner or two. All are contained in the original plain, cloth-backed black paper over boards portfolio, which is worn. A very good and complete set. Item #51126

Vilem Kriz (1921 - 1994) was born in Prague where he studied photography, from 1940 - 1946 at the State Graphic School under Frantisëk Drtikol, Jaromír Funke and Josef Ehm. In 1946, after the war in Europe ended, he moved briefly to Paris where he worked as a foreign correspondent for Czech newspapers and as a freelance photographer. He befriended Jean Cocteau and the Surrealist group of artists. In 1952, he emigrated to Berkeley, California, then in 1958, to Montreal, and from 1960 - 1964, he worked in the photographic department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. In 1964, he returned to Berkeley, where he remained until his death in 1994. He taught photography variously at Mills College, Holy Names College, the University of California, Berkeley, and the California College of Arts and Crafts.

The influence of Jaromír Funke on Kriz is evident in this portfolio - Kriz was his assistant in 1942. The title of this work, his first published portfolio of original photographs, translates as, "The Abandoned Come Back to Life." It is limited to 50 numbered copies, this being number 21.

Price: $2,500.00