For the first time ever, the cover of Aperture features a drawing, not a photograph, as the cover image. In issue #196, these vibrant abstract works from William Eggleston are published for the first time and showcase a rarely seen part of the artist’s career. Also featured is a selection of William Klein’s work from 1956, soon-to-be-published in Rome (Aperture, October 2009), an examination of the role of monuments in photography by Mark Alice Durant, a review of ICP’s Year of Fashion from Holly Brubach, and Luc Sante‘s investigation into the early-twentieth-century photographic postcard. Philip Lopate also examines Sally Gall‘s new images of insects, Rob Hornstra documents less-than-fortunate Russians, photographer Gerald Slota and playwright Neil LaBute collaborate to create some very chilling scenarios, Debbie Fleming Caffery documents her native Louisiana, and more.

Pick up your copy at newsstands nationwide, buy the issue here, or click here to subscribe to Aperture.

Reader challenge: What exact medium does William Eggleston use to make these drawings?

In conjunction with the Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion exhibition now on view, the Metropolitan Museum of Art presents a special screening of Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo?, a 1966 film by William Klein. The story follows a young Brooklyn-born fashion model in Paris who becomes the subject in an episode of a documentary television show called “Qui êtes-vous?”. Functioning as a satire on the fashion industry as a whole, the film follows Klein’s clever photographic aesthetic. Friday evening’s event features a pre-screening discussion with Harold Koda, Kohle Yohannan, and Dorothy McGowan.

Aperture in close collaboration with Contrasto are please to present a revised edition of William Klein’s, Rome first published in 1959, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of it’s release this October. This beautifully produced edition includes Klien’s never before-before-seen fashion pictures made in Rome, along with new updated text by the photographer. Now redesigned to encompass two volumes in a special slipcase, this new edition offers audiences another chance to celbrate this groundbreaking work.

Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo?
Friday, July 17, 2009, 5:30 pm
Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
$10.00