First German edition. Large square quarto. [26],179pp. Black cloth with signature of artist stamped in white on front cover in original photographic dust jacket. Photographic endpapers. Fascinating pictorial account of Dutch photographer Ed Van der Elsken's 1960 trip to Asia and North America. The work is profusely illustrated with b/w reproductions of photographs focusing on the daily life of people in these countries. The artist succeeds in capturing the joy, as well as the hardship of its inhabitants. The work was published worldwide in 7 editions. "Van der Elsken hat weder sogenannte Sehenswürdigkeiten noch Landschaften fotografiert; das überläßt er anderen. Sie tauchen zwar in seinen Fotos auch auf, aber das Hauptaugenmerk des Fotografen wie seiner Kamera galt immer dem Menschen, seinem Leiden und Glück, der Vielfalt des Lebens, das er voll Verständnis und Teilnahme und gerade deshalb aufrichtig und ehrlich bis zur Brutalität notierte." Text in German.
"Sweet Life is a sprawling, exuberant cornucopia, a preview of the pure stream-of-consciousness, machine-gun approach that would soon come with the Japanese Provoke photographers. And like the Provoke aesthetic, Van der Elsken's work has its dark and pessimistic undertones, although in Sweet Life bold, frantic energies predominate." (Parr/Badger, vol. I, p.255).
