SET OF FOUR REMARKABLE LE PRAT PHOTO-ESSAYS ON THE HUMAN FACE, TWO INSCRIBED BY HER TO ART CRITIC RAYMOND CHARMET, WITH ORIGINAL SILVER-GELATIN PRINT

LE PRAT, Thérèse. Autres Visages d’Acteurs. WITH: Le Masque et l’Humain. WITH: Un Seul Visage en ses Metamorphoses. WITH: En Votre Gravité Visages. Paris: Arts et Métiers Graphiques / La Colombe / Plon / Vilo, 1952-66. Four volumes. Slim folio (11 by 14-1/2 inches), original bindings, one in original dust jacket. Original 8-1/2 by 11 inch silver-gelatin print. Housed together in a custom clamshell box. $3800.

First editions of Le Prat’s four separate photo-essays on dramatic facial expressions, together containing 190 striking full-page héliogravures, two copies inscribed to art critic Raymond Charmet. Accompanied by an original silver-gelatin print from negative.

In 1931, violinist Thérèse Le Prat became a professional photographer, adopting a philosophy of photographer as ethnographer, and claiming the theater as her territory. Throughout her career, she created these four photobooks on emotional facial expressions. In 190 wonderful life-size portraits, Le Prat captures a variety of famous faces painted in a number of dramatic modes, among them Marcel Marceau, Pierre Verry, Jean Marais, and Silvia Monfort. Texts in French. The recipient of two of these works is art critic Raymond Charmet, editor of the Concise Encyclopedia of Modern Art (1972). This set is accompanied by a beautiful original silver-gelatin head-shot of Claire Motte, “Ces yeux clairs transpercent,” with Le Prat’s studio stamp on the verso.

Books near-fine, with only minor shelf-wear. Original print fine. Dust jacket on Le Masque et l’Humain with some wear.