Pier 24 Photography Collection

book design for Pier 24 Photography
essay by Philip Gefter
box designed and constructed by John DeMerritt

This monumental limited-edition set of four volumes was designed to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Pier 24 Photography in San Francisco.

From the essay by Philip Gefter:
The private art museum is a breed of its own in the US cultural firmament, from the Barnes Collection in Philadelphia to the Broad in Los Angeles, the Frick Collection in New York, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, and the Menil Collection in Houston. Each one was established with the singular vision of an individual who had the means to collect works of art with rigorous intention, the goodwill to make them available for public viewing, and the foresight to leave a legacy for the benefit of civilization. Add to this roster of distinguished institutions Pier 24 Photography in San Francisco—the only one among them devoted exclusively to photography. …In 2010, when it opened, Pier 24 had been transformed into 28,000 square feet of pristine gallery space. Perhaps it was an unintended rebuke to the presiding national museums at the time, in which a quarter of that space was allotted for the exhibition of photography: 7,000 square feet at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; 7,600 at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; and 6,800 at the International Center of Photography, New York.

Four volumes
essay: 36 pages
photographers: 316 pages
portfolios: 304 pages
themes: 360 pages
9.875 x 11.625 inches