MARADONA & FATHER ─ Maurice van Es (Bundle Set)

A limited bundle set of two artist’s books, MARADONA and FATHER, by Dutch photographer Maurice van Es.

This set brings together two volumes from van Es’s ongoing series on football, visual culture and the image. Closely related yet distinct in tone, MARADONA and FATHER form a compelling pair, together opening up a wider reflection on obsession, tenderness and the (im)possibility of living a life shaped by love.

MARADONA, the second volume in the series, centres on Diego Maradona, the Argentine icon. Across 368 pages, van Es attempts to construct as complete a portrait of Maradona as possible, drawing on more than 1,000 scanned photographs gathered over four years from magazines, postcards, fanzines, gossip publications and other printed matter. Raised in poverty and ending his life surrounded by wealth and excess, Maradona came to embody the trajectory of glory and downfall so often associated with footballers of the 1980s and ’90s. Marked by addiction, indulgence and decline, he appeared driven by a constant desire for more, never fully satisfied. And yet, alongside this self-destructive intensity, his love of football remained singular: few players have ever touched the ball with such tenderness and intimacy.

FATHER, the third volume, turns to images of footballers as fathers, or of footballers seen alongside the artist’s own father. If MARADONA is shaped by fixation and excess, FATHER offers a warmer and more compassionate register. Together, the two books complement one another, forming a dialogue around the complexities of love, care and human contradiction. Published in conjunction with the book, a podcast was also produced in which a biologist, psychologist and economist each reflect on different aspects of fatherhood from their own perspective.

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Title: (Bundle Set) MARADONA & FATHER
Artist: Maurice van Es
Publisher: Self-published, 2025
Format: Two embossed softcover books, each with one tipped-in photograph, with obi-band
Size: 315 × 225 mm (each book)
Pages: 368 / 272
Language: English
Edition: First edition of 1,000 copies
ISBN: 978-90-834047-9-0 / 978-90-834047-2-1