Coal, Smoke & Steam: Ted Rose Mexico 1960/1961
- SIGNED Hardcover
- Minneapolis: Thomas Rose Studio, 2023
Minneapolis: Thomas Rose Studio, 2023. Hardcover. Fine. Hardcover. Number 12 of 20 copies signed and numbered by Thomas Rose. Also signed by Steven Albahari, artist and photographer who wrote the text with Thomas and a poem for Ted Rose that is a preface to the text. This is a stunning book that Thomas Rose has created as an homage to the spectacular railroad photography done by his brother Ted in the early 1960s. Thomas writes in his author's notes: Because the railroad images were the oeuvre and focus in much of Ted's work, his works appeal to that genre. Ted's interests as I mention in this book have more to do with the transition of technology and the post war industrial landscape. The historical aspect of the book is with the photographs from 1960-61 and the sell-off these [iconic] steam engines to Mexico.
In an author's note on a separate sheet of paper that accompanies the book, Thomas writes: "[the book] considers a series of 21 photographs shot by the visual artist Ted Rose (1940-2002) between 1960 and 1961 in Central Mexico as he sought out the last working steam locomotives- many sold to Mexico when U.S. companies transitioned to diesel.....As I structured the form of the book around the sublime in Rose's night photographs I chose to highlight those with the greatest density of black, with emphases on the blur of smoke and steam." Thomas continues:
The basic framework [of this production] is the clamshell box, and inside its front cover is an image of coal. The book is also housed in the box that accompanies the unbound photographic images. This is the book of text that includes Thomas's foreword essay on Ted's life, a poem by Steven Albahari, a preface to the photographs with text from Ted's daughter Molly and a piece by Curtis L Carter that considers Ted's photography, acknowledgements, an epilogue, the colophon, and an index of the images. The 21 images are under the book; these are numbered but unbound. The numbering of the images is related to Ted's age (21) at the time when the images were taken on one of his many sojourns to Mexico and into Guatemala; under the photographs is the image of steam. In fine condition. The book is 14.5 x 16.5 x 1.75, inches. It opens horizontally. The cover is black Japanese rayon / cotton, with Japanese black silk inside. The is in Black silk and stamped with the title only. The book weighs approx. 11 pounds. ARTB/070324.
In an author's note on a separate sheet of paper that accompanies the book, Thomas writes: "[the book] considers a series of 21 photographs shot by the visual artist Ted Rose (1940-2002) between 1960 and 1961 in Central Mexico as he sought out the last working steam locomotives- many sold to Mexico when U.S. companies transitioned to diesel.....As I structured the form of the book around the sublime in Rose's night photographs I chose to highlight those with the greatest density of black, with emphases on the blur of smoke and steam." Thomas continues:
The basic framework [of this production] is the clamshell box, and inside its front cover is an image of coal. The book is also housed in the box that accompanies the unbound photographic images. This is the book of text that includes Thomas's foreword essay on Ted's life, a poem by Steven Albahari, a preface to the photographs with text from Ted's daughter Molly and a piece by Curtis L Carter that considers Ted's photography, acknowledgements, an epilogue, the colophon, and an index of the images. The 21 images are under the book; these are numbered but unbound. The numbering of the images is related to Ted's age (21) at the time when the images were taken on one of his many sojourns to Mexico and into Guatemala; under the photographs is the image of steam. In fine condition. The book is 14.5 x 16.5 x 1.75, inches. It opens horizontally. The cover is black Japanese rayon / cotton, with Japanese black silk inside. The is in Black silk and stamped with the title only. The book weighs approx. 11 pounds. ARTB/070324.