RICHTER, HANS. (1888-1976). German-American Dada painter, graphic artist, avant-garde film producer and art historian. Signed books. First Edition of Köpfe und Hinterköpfe (Heads and Numbskulls), Arche, Berlin, 1967. 208pp. 8vo. N.p., 1967. With numerous illustrations and a text in German. Inscribed in French, “À Léo Sauvage, mon ami fidèle, Hans Richer 67” (“For Léo Sauvage, my faithful friend”), to journalist Léo Sauvage (1913-1988), who occasionally promoted Richter’s productions via articles in various publications. Köpfe und Hinterköpfe, Richter’s fourth book, describes the birth of the international avant-garde in 1920s Berlin. With a first edition of Ein Leben für Bild und Film (A Life for Picture and Film), Exhibition Catalogue, Akademie Der Kunste, Berlin, 1958. (“Hans Richter Berlin 58”). Soft cover. 8vo. Unpaginated, with numerous illustrations. One of an unnumbered run of 1000 copies. Inscribed in French, “À Léo Sauvage, amicalement, comme toujours, Hans Richer, Berlin 58.” (“For Léo Sauvage, best wishes, as always”).

Hans Richter, born in Berlin, Germany, became one of the principal figures of avant-garde art in the 1910s and 1920s. As an art historian and pioneer of Surrealism and Dadaism (sometimes called an art movement but more accurately an anti-art movement), he was a major influence on artists in many disciplines. He is now best known for his groundbreaking surrealistic films Dreams That Money Can Buy (1947) and 8x8: A Chess Sonata in Eight Movements (1957). Richter immigrated to New York City in 1940 at age 52, and in 1943 became a professor and the director of the Institute of Film Techniques at NY’s City College, a position he held for 13 years. In 1956, Richter turned to teaching documentary filmmaking, and in 1962, he retired and moved to Locarno, Switzerland.

For 25 years, Léo Sauvage, the New York foreign correspondent for the Paris daily newspaper Le Figaro, reported under the byline “New York: Léo Sauvage” to French readers on U.S. news, political and cultural events, reviewed plays and interviewed celebrities in all fields. He was also the author of nine books, the best-known of which are The Oswald Affair (1966), about the JFK assassination, and L’Affaire Lumière (1985), about Georges Méliès and the origins of cinema.

Both volumes are in their original dust jacket and wrapper, which have some minor wear and tears; otherwise in good condition.