Author(s) | Richard AVEDON, James BALDWIN

French Edition

Publisher | Taschen, 2017

ISBN | 978-3836569552

English Edition

Publisher | Taschen, 2017

ISBN | 978-38365695382

Photography | Creatives duMonde

On February 10, 1964, the United States Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

From 1963 to 1964, James Baldwin (novelist, essayist) and Richard Avedon (photographer), American masters of their respective crafts, collaborated to produce a book of pictures and words: Nothing Personal. Published in 1964, it is their combined testimony of the moments that led up to a seminal year in United States history. The American Nazi party, civil rights activists, separatist politicians, film stars, literary giants, (would-be) sports legends, segregated public spaces and everyday people conducting the business of daily life: getting married, protesting war and bigotry, communing with friends, neighbors and family, facing tragedy and forging ahead – it’s all there.

Each picture is a thing-in-itself which, ipso facto, tells the story of a point in time. Combined, they manifest America’s evolving socio-historical, political, economic and cultural narrative. The elation of unconstrained, creative and legal freedom collides with the albatross of wearing color and class oppression with vulnerable dignity. Still, they capture a nation unavoidably sewn together by threads of hope, rage, perseverance, personal agency, courage, pride and extraordinary will.

Among the photos, Baldwin’s four-part essay is at once a personal, compassionate, castigating and loving excavation of a tormented nation. His message: past is prologue; only by honestly facing its past can America cultivate a better future; love (wherever you find it and beginning with oneself) is necessary to thrive.

INTERNATIONAL BOY is pleased to house in our collection the 2017 French edition, Sans Allusion. The slipcase includes a companion, soft cover book of previously unpublished photos and documents, with an introduction by writer and theater critic, Hilton Als.

Translation: Eric Kahane & Philippe Safavi
Book Design: Marvin Israel