Lebe, David. Long Light. Photographs by David Lebe by Peter Barberie.

Philadelphia Museum of Art/Yale University Press, 2019. Illustrated boards not issued with dust jacket. Like new. "Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, David Lebe (b. 1948) pushed the boundaries of photography, creating nuanced and visually complex images using innovative techniques. Often enhancing his prints with hand-coloring, Lebe made experimental pinhole photographs, photograms (cameraless photographs), and light drawings (pictures whose primary light source is a handheld flashlight). Many of Lebe’s photographs explore his identity as a gay man and feature male nudes." In this regard, Lebe’s work has been compared to that of Peter Hujar and Robert Mapplethorpe. "His more meditative work from the 1990s and beyond includes diverse series dealing with the AIDS crisis and his personal struggle with the disease."

David Lebe (born 1948) is an American fine art photographer celebrated for his innovative darkroom techniques, pioneering light drawings, and poignant visual explorations of gay identity, intimacy, and mortality. Born in Manhattan and raised in New York, Lebe studied at the Philadelphia College of Art (PCA), where he was deeply influenced by photographer Ray K. Metzker and later served as a long-time faculty member. In the 1970s, working in pinhole photography and long exposures, he developed a signature method of "light drawing"—using flashlights to trace figures and environments in darkened rooms—creating glowing, ethereal silhouettes that blurred the line between photography and line drawing. Following his HIV diagnosis in 1988, Lebe’s work shifted toward deeply personal, introspective subjects, documenting his battles with illness, his home life in Philadelphia and later rural New York, and serene botanical imagery. His influential career was honored with a major retrospective at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2019, and his photographs are held in permanent collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum.
 
"This sumptuously illustrated volume offers the first retrospective survey of this groundbreaking artist. Featuring more than 100 images by Lebe along with comparative works by other artists, the book includes an insightful essay that situates Lebe’s photographs both within the context of the Philadelphia art scene in which he was active and in relation to the practice of nationally recognized figures such as Barbara Blondeau, Ray K. Metzker, and David Wojnarowicz." Quotes by publisher.