MCGEE’S FIRST PHOTOBOOK, COLLECTING IMAGES OF YOUNG CUBAN BOXERS AND BALLERINAS:
‘BALLERINAS FLOAT LIKE BUTTERFLIES. THE BOXERS STING LIKE BEES’
MCGEE, Tony. Boxing Ballerinas. Photomontage. Concept by Richard “Goz” Gostelow and Ian Shepherd. Designed by Elizabeth Edwards. [?London]: Butler and Tanner for Floridita Productions Ltd, 2000.
Quarto (328 x 264mm), pp. [2 (blank l.)], [92 (text and photographs)], [2 (blank l.)]. Black-and-white photographic illustrations after McGee in the text, many full-page, some double-page, followed by thumbnail index. Original paper-covered boards, upper and lower boards with illustrations after McGee, yellow structured endpapers, dustwrapper, not price-clipped, with illustrations after McGee. (Spine-ends minimally bumped, dustwrapper very slightly creased and rubbed at edges.) A fine copy.
First edition. The photographer and filmmaker McGee (b. 1954) rose to prominence in the 1970s through his fashion photography, before broadening out into portraiture of cultural figures such as David Bowie (one of his portraits of Bowie is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery), Tina Turner, George Michael, Bryan Ferry, Kate Moss, and Naomi Campbell.
Boxing Ballerinas was McGee’s first photobook, and it collects photographs of young boxers and ballerinas in Cuba. ‘Boxers and ballerinas are not often found this close together. Fighters & dancers. Yet they mirror and shadow each other’s every move. They share power, grace, speed, strength, agility, sweat and split second timing. They share no margin for error. They share no gain without pain. Nowhere on earth is this more visible than Havana, Cuba. The birthplace and training ground of some of the best boxers and ballerinas in the world. In spring 1999 we stepped behind the scenes to witness the gruelling rehearsals and punishing training sessions of the dedicated young Cubans at the National School of Ballet and the Academy of Boxing in Havana. The boxers practice in a disused cow shed next to their Russian built sleeping quarters, one hour out of the city. The facilities – basic. The spirit – strong. The dedication – inspiring. The combination – overpowering. Ballerinas float like butterflies. The boxers sting like bees’ (dustwrapper blurb).
£29.50
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