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 (Click for larger image) 
Deruytter, Wouter (Artist/Photographer) & The Dalemans Brothers (Subjects).
VALENTINO MANIA: PHOTOGRAPHY BY WOUTER DERUYTTER.
Begijnhof-hasselt, Belgium:
Provinciaal Centrum Voor Beeldende Kunsten,
1996.
Softcover.
First Edition/First Printing.
71 pages.
Fine.
Slight rubbing on fragile DJ spine. Artist Book. Limited Edition of 500 copies. The Belgian photographer's debut book and most scarce title. A collaborative tribute to Rudolph Valentino by Wouter Deruytter and The Dalemans Brothers. A splendid production by the Galerie Van Laethem: Regular-sized volume format. Burgundy softcovers with gilt titles on cover, as issued. Photographs by Wouter Deruytter. Concept by The Dalemans Brothers. Bilingual running text in English and Dutch. Without DJ, as issued. The tribute to Valentino is in three disparate parts, inspired by the episodic and free-form style of the silent film, now a lost art that the book admirably attempts to recover: Jan and Gilbert Dalemans evoke and recreate Valentino's unique aura by reflecting on his "charismatic personality", which made him one of the most intriguing icons of American cinema, "embodying beauty and elegance with a tantalizing eroticism accessible to all sexual preferences" and honoring silent film iconography in several portraits, collages and sketches; attending the Centennial of Valentino's birthday, on May 6, 1995, in his Italian hometown of Puglia, where his legend lives on (his official biographer is the revered local bishop, Monsignor Donato; only in Italy could this absurdity happen without raising eyebrows) and making a film dedicated to Valentino's memory called "Taxi Dancer", whose story centers around a handsome bellboy, who becomes obsessed with the silent-film star and through the magic of photography, re-incarnates him. This is dizzy, heady stuff. In lesser hands, the entire project would have collapsed shortly after the opening credits. It is a testament to Wouter Deruytter's remarkable understanding of and genuine empathy for the Dalemans Brothers as well as to our own enduring erotic fascination with Valentino that he succeeds in making the whole thing work magically, flow seamlessly, and move us deeply. The magic and fluidity of the erotic life are Deruytter's themes as an artist/photographer. It is easy to label his work as homoerotic, which it is, but that is not all it is. In this and his subsequent books, Deruytter's point is that gender, sexuality and eroticism transcend conventional categories and thinking. Men as much as women find Valentino sexually attractive in a way that they could not, and need not, explain. A "must-have" title for Wouter Deruytter collectors. This title was not distributed or sold commercially outside Belgium. This is the only copy available online. A rare copy thus. One of the most brilliant living artist/photographers. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER WOUTER DERUYTTER TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). $300.00 |
