ROGERS, Kenny [Yousuf Karsh].
Kenny Rogers' America.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company , 1986.
$1,600.00
In Stock
Item Number: RRB-151963
+$450
First Edition of Kenny Rogers' America; Lengthily Inscribed by Him to Celebrated Portrait Photographer Yousuf Karsh
First edition of this collection of photographs in celebration of the beauty, the drama, and the diversity of America. Square quarto, original publisher's red cloth, illustrated with over 100 memorable black and white photographs. Association copy, lengthily inscribed by Kenny Rogers in the year of publication on the front free endpaper to celebrated portrait photographer Yousuf Karsh and his wife Estrellita, "Dear Yousuf and Estrellita! Thanks so much for the very special "forward" to this book...neither of you will ever know how much I appreciate your help and more importantly your encouragement...you're both very special people and I value your friendship very much...Kenny Rogers 1986." The recipient, Yousuf Karsh, is recognized as one of the leading photographers of the twentieth century. Arriving in Canada in 1924 as an Armenian refugee, Karsh eventually settled in Ottawa. Over six decades, he mastered the art of portraiture and created a unique chronicle of his time through images of celebrated legends. Some of his most notable subjects include Winston Churchill, Audrey Hepburn, Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy, and Ernest Hemingway, among others. A celebrity in his own right, he was an elegant and charming public figure, captivating audiences with compelling stories told in images and words. Karsh sought to capture, as he put it, the “elusive moment of truth,” revealing the essential nature of his subjects as reflected in their eyes, hands, and attitudes. From the collection of Yousuf Karsh with his estate label to the front pastedown. Held by the Estate of Yousuf & Estrellita Karsh; after Yousuf’s death in 2002 passing to Estrellita Karsh; after Estrellita’s death in March 2025 passing to Katherine Getchell. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Foreword by Yousuf Karsh.
Kenny Rogers' America (1986) is a photography collection by Kenneth Ray Rogers (1938–2020) — one of the best-selling music artists in American history, known worldwide for such recordings as "The Gambler," "Lucille," and "Islands in the Stream" — that reveals a dimension of his creative life largely overshadowed by his musical celebrity. The volume was the first of a pair of photography books Rogers produced in the 1980s, followed by Your Friends and Mine (1987), with a third collection, This Is My Country, appearing in 2005 — together establishing Rogers as a serious and accomplished photographer whose work ranged across landscape and portrait traditions. Comprising black-and-white photographs taken during his extensive travels across the country, the book reflects a sustained artistic ambition that Rogers pursued with the same disciplined professionalism he brought to his music — studying under the mentorship of Yousuf Karsh, the legendary Canadian portrait photographer who contributed a foreword to the volume, as well as under Ansel Adams's protégé John Sexton, from whom he absorbed Adams's Zone System approach to tonal control. Rogers himself told People magazine that "music is what I am, but photography would probably be second," a candid self-assessment that the quality of his work substantiates. In 2014 he received an honorary master of photography degree from the Professional Photographers of America, and in 2017 the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award.
Kenny Rogers' America.
$1,600.00
In Stock
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