Robert Heinecken

(Chicago, Illinois: A Chicago Book, 1980, a Special Edition of 15 copies), a book illustrated with 8 unique Polaroid SX-70 prints, each mounted, with text by the photographer. Small oblong quarto, spiral-bound black wrappers with a unique Polaroid SX-70 print affixed to the front wrapper and another affixed to the back wrapper, signed, titled, dated, and numbered '#3 of 15' in ink on the title page, slipcased, no. 3 from the Special Edition of 15

The Polaroid prints are in generally excellent condition. The covers are bumped at the corners. The green cloth slipcase is in generally very good condition. The corners are rubbed. The spine is annotated 'He:/She: Special Ed. #3 of 15 Heinecken' in an unidentified hand in ink.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In the 1970s, Robert Heinecken began the first of an extensive group of SX-70 photographs and corresponding dialogues that would come to be known as the He:/She: series.  These early SX-70s, mounted two or more to a board, were juxtaposed with dialogue composed by Heinecken in the voices of the universal 'He' and 'She.'  Among the SX-70 He:/She: images were ones of men, women, bedrooms and other interiors, body parts, ordinary objects such as wine glasses and toy figurines, and even Heinecken himself.   Precisely arranged and carefully scripted, the He:/She: vignettes function as miniature narratives of the tension between the sexes. 

In 1980, Heinecken published as a book eight of these He:/She: dialogues using as illustrations SX-70s of couples from mass-market advertising.  For Heinecken, this was a one-two punch: the falsity of advertising's perfect couples are emphasized by the man-woman dialogues simmering just below the surface.  As Heinecken wrote in his introduction to the work, 

'When a woman and a man converse in relative isolation, it is rare that some sort of sexual game is not stirring . . . These impromptu, and at the same time, worn, oral exercises serve to veil the uncultivated and much more dynamic meanings conveyed by the expression of the eyes, the attitude of the bodies, the explicit use of the hands, and the immutable context.' 

The He:/She: volume offered here is one of 15 copies of the Special Edition of the work illustrated with original mounted SX-70s.