Cerny trojúhelník - Podkrusnohorì Fotografie: 1990-1994 (The Black Triangle - The Foothills of the Ore Mountains. Le triangle noir - La région située au pied des Monts métallifères)

Prague: Správa Prazského, 1994. Softcover. vg. Oblong 4to. Unpaginated (Total of 76 leaves). Original cut-out card cover protected by mylar jacket. Accordion fold-out pages attached to cover. Lacking slipcase. The Black Triangle in the Ore Mountains is located on the triangular border area between Germany's Southern Saxony, Poland's Lower Silesia and the Czech Republic's Northern Bohemia. Industrial activities have generated the emission of high levels of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, contaminating the air over the basin which led to the deterioration of the ecological balance, as well as causing numerous human health problems. Koudelka's photographs (truncated) in this work "show a devastated countryside, a war zone of blasted trees and vegetation, a landscape as atrophied and as wrecked as anything in a Paul Nash painting of the Somme. Pulling out the accordion fold, one is faced with an enormous panorama of destruction. The gouged earth and felled trees make a powerful impression, and here and there in the images trails of smoke rising up on the horizon tell us that the power stations are still wreaking their environmental havoc. One might argue that Koudelka is making beautiful pictures out of misery, and there is no denying that these are rich, darktoned and sumptuous photographs, or that this is an exquisitely made book. Koudelka is an unashamedly romantic artist, and has admitted that the region has a horrible beauty. Nevertheless, this volume is a passionate plea for the environmental cause." (Parr/Badger; The Photobook: A History, Vol. II, p. 74-75). Total of 34 captioned b/w reproductions of photographs in panorama, each measuring 7" x 22". Text by Vàclev Havel and Josef Vavrousek, captions by Zdenek Stàhlik, Petr Pakosta and Igor Michal. Minor staining on wraps. Text and captions in Czech, English and French. Wraps in very good, interior in near fine condition. Scarce. (Inventory #: 23897)