SIGNED; Gundula Schulze Eldowy - Der grosse und der kleine Schritt ("The big and the little step") - 2012

FANTASTIC BOOK by Gundula Schulze Eldowy, born 1954 in Erfurt, ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PHOTOGRAPHERS from East germany - in BRANDNEW CONDITION + SIGNED.

Showing her photographs between 1982 and 1990.
In addition to her photographic and film work, Gundula Schulze-Eldowy has created stories, poems, essays, sound collages and songs.
The artistic importance of her photography has been compared to that of Diane Arbus.

Signed by the artist.
Signatures by this artist are extrem scarce.
I GUARANTEE THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE SIGNATURE.

"Gundula Schulze has photographed completely fearlessly where others would not have been allowed to or would not have dared."
(Ulf Erdmann Ziegler, Blau Kunstmagazin, No. 5, October 2015)

New, mint, unread.
Still originally shrink-wrapped in publisher's plastic foil; only opened once for signature.

"The theme of this photo book without taboos is the alienation of man in modern civilization. The crisis in GDR society in the eighties can be seen as the social backdrop. Gundula Schulze Eldowy shows us mankind as being from the outset a suffering and threatened entity, which is further hindered from finding its true self by the restraints and rules of society, and which exerts violence. There are also lighter moments from life which set the necessary counterpoint, but these are rare upon this walk through Hades, which takes us from the delivery room, the hospital and elderly retirement home, through the factory shop floor and slaughterhouse, to the dancing school and the opera ball. In all the exterior decay of the cities corresponds to the observed reification of the people portrayed and the individual's yearnings for inner transformation with the political self-liberation of GDR society."
(from the publisher)

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Lehmstedt, Leipzig. 2012. First edition, first printing.

Hardcover with dustjacket. 250 x 275 mm. 144 pages. 81 color photos. Photos: Gundula Schulze Eldowy. Book design: Mathias Bertram, Berlin. Edited by Mathias Bertram, Felix Hoffmann. Translation: Christopher Haley Simpson. Text in English and German.

Great photobook in perfect condition - signed by the artist.
Published in conjunction with the exhibition: "Gundula Schulze Eldowy - The early years" at "C/O Berlin - International Forum Visual Dialogues" in 2011 and 2012.

"At the age of fifteen, Schulze Eldowy travelled to Prague and Pilsen and was influenced by the Prague Spring. Between 1972 and 1982 she undertook extensive journeys across Eastern Europe. In 1972 she moved to East Berlin. From 1979 to 1984 she attended the Academy of Fine Arts (School of Visual Arts) in Leipzig for photography, studying with Horst Thorau. Her photographs from the 1970s and 1980s are considered some of the most important visual testimonies to East German daily life. Many of her photographs capture the private lives of others with a direct and unsparing gaze, including the living conditions of those living on the margins of society. She is known to capture everyday life through intimate exchange with her subjects. By documenting counterculture as well as elderly and disabled members of the community, she called to attention those that had been disregarded by official media, which for the most part was with idealized images of those benefiting from socialist society.
From 1977 to 1990, Schulze Eldowy worked on various photo series, which occasionally earned disapproval from the authorities. Among those received negatively were her nude portraits, which she chose to photograph in their homes in order to highlight their status in society and also retain their individuality. During this period, she created the black and white cycles Berlin on a Dog's Night, Work, Nude Portraits, Tamerlan, Street Scene, The Wind Fills Itself with Water, and two color cycles The Big and the Little Step, and The Devil Take the Hindmost. Despite both solo and group exhibition opportunities and inclusion in photography journals, the Stasi still attempted to impede her practice due to the opinion that her work negatively portrayed socialist society.
In 1985 she met American photographer Robert Frank, who encouraged her and invited her to go to New York in 1990, where she lived from 1990 to 1993. During this time she was included in the New Photography 8 exhibition at MoMA. Starting with her time in New York, Schulze Eldowy increasingly turned to poetry, which, for her, represents "the language of the spirit.
She continued to travel and live in different countries across the world: Italy (1991), Egypt (1993–2000), Japan (1996/97), Moscow (1997), Turkey (1997) and finally in Peru and Bolivia in the 2000s. During her time in Egypt, she discovered a previously unknown shaft in the west wall of the Queen's Chamber of the Great Pyramid. She used aerial photography to find what she claims is the location of the legendary Hall of Records. In a series of sound works entitled "Songs/Cheops-Pyramide" she recited poems, chants, and songs in the pyramid chambers.
In 2010 she became a member of the Saxon Academy of the Arts
and in 2019 she became a member of the Academy of Arts, Berlin. In 1996 she was awarded the Higashikawa Prize. Schulze Eldowy lives in Berlin and Peru.
(Wikipedia)