Czanara: Photographs and Drawings

Czanara: Photographs & Drawings introduces the obscure art of Raymond Carrance (1921-1998), a talented photographer and book illustrator. Working in the 1950s and 60s, Carrance created a private catalog of homoerotic dreamscapes under the pseudonym “Czanara”. The book is a magnificent look at one of the greatest unknown erotic artists of the 20th century. His drawings and photographs were discovered by David Deiss, a collector, who purchased the contents of the artist’s atelier a few years ago from a bookseller in Lyons, France. Little is known about Carrance, other than what Marc Daniel wrote about him in Czanariana, his only monograph to date. Carrance had several exhibitions in Paris in the 1960s and 70s and illustrated probably half a dozen elaborate books, including an edition of Montherlant’s gay classic La Villedon’t Le Prince est un Enfant. He worked as a commercial artist in his early career, as there was evidence of some advertising work for Perrier among the works in the collection.

Czanara: Photographs & Drawings is the first book by Antinous Press, a new imprint from legendary Creative Director Sam Shahid. Dedicated to creating distinctive high-end publications, Antinous Press will explore sex and beauty through the visions of artists, photographers, writers, and popular culture.