SMITH, JACK. The Beautiful Book. With 19 photographs, many of them erotically charged. With images of Warhol superstars Mario Montez and Francis Francine, and a portrait of Smith. Silver prints, 2 1/2 inches (6.4.cm.) square, 4 are detached from the mounts. 4to, stiff wrappers, with a black silkscreen and yellow lettering; soiled; ink residue and small stains on inside front and rear covers. first edition, one of a planned edition of 200 copies (of which 60 were apparently produced). New York: Dead Language Press [Piero Heliczer], 1959
The pioneering gender-bending performance artist Jack Smith, who was also a film-maker and photographer, was a seminal figure in New York's downtown avant-garde scene of the 1950s-1960s, and influenced contemporary artists ranging from Andy Warhol to Cindy Sherman.
Warhol bought his first movie camera in 1963 and openly mimicked Smith's filmmaking style, writing: "I went out to Old Lyme. . . Jack Smith was filming a lot out there and I picked something up from him for my own movies--the way he just kept shooting until the actors got bored. People would ask him what the movie was about and he would say things that sounded like a takeoff on the mad artist, such as, 'The appeal of an underground movie is not to the understanding.' " Subsequently, Warhol invited Smith to play the title role in "Dracula" where, according to the filmmaker, he "really got into the part."
The Warhol connection continues with "The Beautiful Book," which features gender-bending photographs of artworld luminaries, including future Warhol superstars Mario Montez and Francis Francine -- who also scripted many of Warhol's films -- as well as Marian Zazeela. Interestingly, Smith called his actors "Superstars" long before the term was popularly recognized. Many of the photographs in the book reflect a wild eroticism that was also associated with Smith's performance works and his interest in transgender dress-up.
This copy includes a different selection of photographs than the one sold in Swann's December 13, 2011 sale. The coloration for this iteration features a black cover design and yellow lettering versus the yellow-on-yellow design that appeared in the copy sold last year.
