The Modern Book Gallery Presents
Sylvie Blum

Sylvie Blum spent the first sixteen years of her career in the photographic industry as a model working extensively with her late husband, the internationally revered fashion photographer Gunter Blum. It wasn't until his death in 1997 that Sylvie began to observe life from behind the camera lens. She observes, 'I never felt the same way in front of another photographer after Gunter so I began taking photographs myself. Now his mind lives through my work.'

Blum published her first book under the title Venus Selbst. It was a collection of mostly nude self portraits taken with a Polaroid SX-70 camera. For critics, the volume was a natural transition for Blum, bridging the gab between model and photographer and emerging as an artist in control of her craft. Since then she has published several volumes including Nude, Hotel Orient, and Men.

Unlike many modern photographers, Blum develops her own fine-art prints in her studio darkroom in Mannheim, spending approximately four days smelling developer and fixer for every two days on location. Each and every step of the photographic process remains of the highest importance and simply cannot be substituted.

The Modern Book Gallery is located thirty minutes south of San Francisco. For more information please visit: www.modernbook.com