INSCRIBED BY SURREAL THEATER PHOTOGRAPHER ANGUS MCBEAN

MCBEAN, Angus. Angus McBean. London: Quartet Books, (1982). Quarto, original black cloth, original photographic dust jacket. $225.

First edition of this retrospective of Angus McBean, “whose life’s work was to make people look beautiful” (Times), with 120 full-page finely-screened halftones, inscribed in the year of publication, “For dear Subie with love from Angus, 1982.”

“Style, glamour, stars. Entering the world of Angus McBean, belief is suspended. We pass immediately through footlights, real or imagined, to stand inside the illusion” (Preface). “In the 1930s McBean’s photos created a flavor as heady and strong as the fashionable cocktails of the period. He mixed and matched, with sardonic elaboration, and a knowingness which made spectators collaborators in a world of make-believe” (Marina Viazey). He placed his subjects against bizarre and surrealistic backgrounds that confounded his contemporary critics. See McDarrah, 305-06.

Newspaper clippings affixed to endpapers. A fine, inscribed copy.