Book Description
The teddy bear is thought to have originated in 1902, when a cartoon of President Theodore Roosevelt refusing to shoot a baby bear appeared in The Washington Post. Since then, it has become the familiar stuffed toy of every child, a collectible object, and a container of historical, emotional, and sentimental information. Over a period of many years, the Canadian art collector Ydessa Hendeles has bought, via Internet auction, photos in which teddy bears are featured: snapshots, studio and group portraits, and photos of events and sports contests. Often the teddy bear is only marginally visible; nevertheless, through them, these two luxurious volumes show--on more than 1500 typologically organized pages, most of them in color--a fascinating visual story of 20th-century life. The Teddy Bear Project offers an amusing, often thought-provoking cultural history of photography, in which the parallel course of idyllic and civil life is just as present as are atrocity, war, persecution, and expulsion. Introduction by Ydessa Hendeles. Slipcased, Three Volumes, 9.5 x 12 in./1500 pgs / 1500 color.
The Teddy Bear Project FROM THE PUBLISHER
The teddy bear is thought to have originated in 1902, when a cartoon of President Theodore Roosevelt refusing to shoot a baby bear appeared in The Washington Post. Since then, it has become the familiar stuffed toy of every child, a collectible object, and a container of historical, emotional, and sentimental information. Over a period of many years, the Canadian art collector Ydessa Hendeles has bought, via Internet auction, photos in which teddy bears are featured: snapshots, studio and group portraits, and photos of events and sport contests. Often the teddy bear is only marginally visible; nevertheless, through them, these two luxurious volumes show—on more than 1500 typologically organized pages, most of them in color—a fascinating visual story of 20th-century life. The Teddy Bear Project offers an amusing, often thought-provoking cultural history of photography, in which the parallel course of idyllic and civil life is just as present as are atrocity, war, persecution, and expulsion.
ACCREDITATION
Ydessa Hendeles was born in Germany in 1948, the only child of Jewish parents who survived the Holocaust. Raised in Canada, she began to exhibit contemporary art in 1980 and ran, until 1988, The Ydessa Gallery in Toronto, an influential commercial gallery that supported such emerging Canadian artists as Jeff Wall, Jana Sterbak, Ken Lum, Krysztof Wodiczko, and Rodney Graham. In 1988 she founded the Ydessa Hendeles Art Foundation, Canada's only privately funded exhibition space for contemporary art, where she continues to present shows curated from her collection of contemporary art, sculpture, installations, and videos, as well as historical and documentary photography, news photographs, family album photographs, and antique toys.
Art & Photography
Book Info
