Patrick Remy, critic and director of Steidl France, reveals his ideal library: ”10 books? How do you pick ten of your favorite books from a library that must hold… how many? My God! I have never counted them, and always refused the idea. It is not a race… 3000, more? It’s a mystery. What I know is that a library is always too small. Choosing ten is a challenge, but here are today’s ten…Nothing proves that I won’t change my mind in a few hours.
The first, the first emotion, admittedly erotic, then photographic: Helmut Newton’s Femmes Secrètes (Robert Laffont), the essence of Newton’s art, as a great fan I’ve collected all of his books, except Sumo, which is more of a coffee table book! Another adolescent emotion, nearly, Max Pam’s Going East that I discovered when I returned from an Asian assignment for the Guide du Routard, a great guy… I later edited his book Indian Ocean Journey (Steidl Books, 2000). Then one of my first books at Steidl, Strip (1998), when I read it now, I see all of its flaws, the haphazard selection of pictures now obsolete, but that too was a sentimental journey, the beginning of a great adventure….
Slim Aarons, A Wonderful Time (Harper & Row, 1974), it was an american friend, an artistic director who mentioned him to me for the first time, it must have been over ten years ago, the first book I bought on Ebay (signed!), a universe of beautiful people, incredible places, by a man who learned never to take himself seriously! Far, very far from Slim Aarons’ universe: Boris Mikhailov, Case History (Scalo, 1999), was a book I initially rejected, too hardcore, too trashy… why take pictures of bums, sometimes nude? And little by little, after turning the pages, delving into his universe, it became one of my favorites, a requiem to the end of the Soviet Union, more explicit than hundreds of photo reportages!
On a Japanese note, there is of course Araki, but which one? Without a doubt, Sentimental Journey, Winter Journey (1991), one of the rare books that makes me cry, about the last days of his wife Yoko’s battle with cancer.
Then there is Kishin Shinoyama, this great master, often forgotten because of his diverse styles, because he is commercial, but he made some incredible books, including Shok (1992). The most sublime still lives of traditional Japanese cuisine, in a golden book! A book that influenced Araki and his Banquet.
My favorites are always the last, here are my latest purchases: Paul Graham, Films (Mack Books), the definitive story analog photography’s demise, Hotel Il Pelicano (Rizzoli Books), a mythical Italian Hotel as seen by Slim Aarons, John Swope and Juergen Teller, pure glamour, and finally: Helena Påls, För att / Because (Journal Books), a young Swedish photographer, a typically Swedish, dark universe, but very moving”
Patrick Remy
