This auction is for a large illustrated first edition hardcover photography book with dust jacket titled “Zagourski Lost Africa: From the Collection of Pierre Loos" with the ethnographically important photographs of Kazimir Ostoja Zagourski (1883–1944). The book/dust jacket is marked in part as follows: ZAGOURSKI. LOST AFRICA. FROM THE COLLECTION OF PETER LOOS. FOREWORD BY PIERRE LOOS WITH A TEXT BY EZIO BASSANI. PRINTED AND BOUND IN ITALY. FIRST EDITION. © 2001 SKIRA EDITORE. ISBN 88-8491-008-0. DISTRIBUTED IN NORTH AMERICA BY RIZZOLI INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATIONS, INC. THROUGH ST. MARTIN'S PRESS. DISTRIBUTED ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD BY THAMES AND HUDSON LTD. AN OUTSTANDING PHOTOGRAPHIC REPORTAGE FROM THE TWENTIES AND THIRTIES BRINGS BACK THE MEMORY OF WAYS OF LIVING, CEREMONIES, ADORNED BODIES OF AN AFRICA THAT CAN BE APTLY DEFINED AS "LOST". HIS FORAYS INTO THE DEPTHS OF THE AFRICAN CONTINENT TOOK [ZAGOURSKI] INTO THE MOST REMOTE VILLAGES OF THE KUBA, MANGBETU, BWAKA, TUTSI. MASAI, ETC, WHERE HE TOOK UNPRECEDENTED PICTURES OF GREAT ETHNOGRAPHIC INTEREST. The book is loaded with numerous black & white photographic illustrations throughout and has a total of 237 numbered pages. The book measures roughly 12 7/8” x 8 5/8” x 7/8” which we believe would place it roughly in the 4to quarto size range. It weighs 3 lbs 11.7 oz. The book/dust jacket have scratches, scuffs, nicks, dings, dents, bumped/bent corners and edges, and dirty and/or stained areas (see pictures). The following two paragraphs are transcribed from the dust jacket of this important volume.
An outstanding photographic reportage from the Twenties and Thirties brings back the memory of ways of living, ceremonies, adorned bodies of an Africa that can be aptly defined as "lost". These extraordinary, unpublished pictures, taken with great technical skill and with a sense of great dignity of the people portrayed, constitute a monument to the African continent as it was. Kazimir Ostoja Zagourski (1880-1941) was born in Poland and moved to Congo in 1924. Zagourski was the first professional photographer to travel throughout the interior of Congo and visited also the neighbouring countries, Chad, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Kenya, and South Africa. During his long stay in Africa he took hundreds of pictures, 500 of which, divided in two extraordinary series on different tribes, build up to a unique historic and ethnographic survey.
In a sense, Zagourski's work constitutes the first "non-European" look, devoid of the colonial overtones that characterize much contemporary work. His forays into the depths of the African continent took him into the most remote villages of the Kuba, Mangbetu, Bwaka, Tutsi. Masai, etc, where he took unprecedented pictures of great ethnographic interest. He documented, for example, ceremonies (initiation, circumcision, excision, masked dances, etc.), the great African creativity in body ornament (from scarification to hair dresses, from jewels to lip plugs), clothes and all utilitarian objects placed in their appropriate cultural context (musical instruments, shields, stools, knives, containers, etc.).
This large illustrated first edition hardcover photography book with dust jacket titled “Zagourski Lost Africa: From the Collection of Pierre Loos" with the ethnographically important photographs of Kazimir Ostoja Zagourski is sure to be a nice addition to your collection. We do our best to properly describe an item, but please take a close look at the pictures to assess condition (mouse over to zoom, click to enlarge). Speaking of pictures, we aim to capture images that accurately represent an item’s physical attributes such as color, condition, size, etc., but please note that an actual item may appear differently in hand than it did on screen. This is one of many great books we currently have listed. View or search our other items here.
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