World Food Books

Bernard Faucon
Dernier Portrait

1991, French / Japanese
Softcover (2 volumes in slipcase), unpaginated, 18.5 x 18.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Nanasai / Kyoto

$180.00 - Out of stock

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Incredible, seldom-seen Japanese 2-volume publication from 1991 on the mythical work of French photographer Bernard Faucon (b. Provence, 1951), published by Nanasai, Kyoto, and only ever available in this edition. Dernier Portrait ("Last Portrait") is a slipcased book-set that goes beyond the award-winning "Summer Camp" and presents an entire volume devoted to Bernard Faucon's models — a series of charming full-body colour portraits of his extensive collection of adolescent male dolls grouped chronologically into period and dressed in their period wardrobes, with a full catalogue. The second volume is a rare series of diary-esque photographs accompanied by hand-written texts by Faucon. An intimate collection of unseen photographic experimentations, behind the scenes images, out-takes, and self-portraits with his doll and human boy models. One of the best Faucon books, virtually unknown in the West. Books and illustrated slipcase with emboss/deboss details. French hand-written texts translated to Japanese.

"Bernard Faucon’s photographic 'mise-en-scene' of children's games and rituals (using mannequins and an occasional live model), like the salaciously naïve narrative that accompanies them, convincingly perverts the notion of reality. For the real in Faucon's art is both the subtly delirious content of unusually memorable images and the heightened awareness of the feelings they arouse in us . . . freakish pleasure, irrational fear, unbridled fantasies, forbidden yearnings associated with recollections of our own youth. "The wonderful memories I am preparing for myself!" Faucon says of his magical games with time.

Roland Barthes ascribed his own profound fascination for Faucon's enigmatic images to the "marriage of heterogeneous species of reality." He detected in them: artificial mannequins posed in a natural land-scape with an occasional live sitter in their midst, casual life-like gesturing of figures endowed with perpetually smiling lifeless expressions, all of this captured in true-to-life Kodacolor. By a brilliant construction/deconstruction of the means of illusionism, Faucon reveals that he is not only an extremely talented photographer but an artist at the leading edge today.

Bernard Faucon (b. 1950 in Provence) is a French photographer and writer. Faucon spent his childhood in the clear blue sky and the lavender field, before attending the University of Paris Sorbonne, where he majored in philosophy. After graduating, he worked as a painter, then turned to photography. Faucon was one of the first photographers in the second half of the 20th century to systematically create and master the constructed image, gaining fame worldwide in the late 1970s when he started a new trend of mise en scène photo. His photographic work has a love of youth and dreamy beauty, using saturated colour, natural settings, rooms and often tableaux of mannequins. For more than 20 years, his staged photographs have been exhibited in international galleries such as Leo Castelli in New York, and Agathe Gaillard and Yvon Lambert in Paris.

Very Good copy in Good—Very slipcase. Light wear to and pressure mark to slipcase that presses through lightly to cover of book 1.

File under: Bernard Faucon Nanasai / Kyoto Photography Art Out-of-print / Rare

Words on Walls: A Survey of Contemporary Visual Poetry
by Barrett Reid

1989, English
Softcover (staple-bound), 24 pages, 22 x 20 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Heide Museum of Modern Art / Victoria

$45.00 - Out of stock

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Scarce but important exhibition catalogue of visual poetry in Australia, held at Heide Park and Art Gallery on 7 March—23 April 1989. Features the work of π.o., Mike Parr, Pete Spence, Richard Kelly Tipping, Alan Riddell, Alex Selenitsch, Christopher Brennan, Karen Cherry, Ruth Cowen, R.J. Deeble, Dryblower (Iroz), Jas H. Duke, James Gleeson, Garrie Hutchinson, Frederick May, Peter Murphy, thalia, Sweeney Reed. Illustrated throughout with visual examples of all featured artists/poets, alongside artists statements, biographies, catalogue of works, bibliography, list of important periodicals, articles, etc. An excellent reference for any library of Australian visual/concrete/experimental poetry. Introductory essay by Australian librarian, poet, and literary editor, Barrett Reid (1926–1995).

VG copy, light wear.

File under: Alex Selenitsch Sweeney Reed Jas H. Duke James Gleeson Alan Riddell Pete Spence π.O. Barrett Reid Alex Selenitsch Sweeney Reed Jas H. Duke thalia Alan Riddell R.J. Deeble Richard Tipping Pete Spence π.O. Heide Museum of Modern Art / Victoria Concrete Poetry Out-of-print / Rare Group Shows / Collections Poetry Art Australian Art

Text Buchstabe Bild (Text, Letter, Image)

1970, German / French
Softcover, 118 pages, 21 x 19 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft Helmhaus Zürich / Zürich

$160.00 - Out of stock

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Rare, important exhibition catalogue designed by Walter Diethelm, published on the occasion of the exceptional exhibition Text Buchstabe Bild (Text, Letter, Image), held at the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft Helmhaus Zürich, July 11—August 23, 1970. Preface by Felix Andreas Baumann. "The point is to present this literature, which is located between writing and images, text and graphics and around the tertium comparationis of typography, to an audience that is probably not too familiar with the techniques and variants of “concrete literature”—from the preface. An incredible and varied anthology of the experimental, poetic, graphic interplay of text and image, profusely illustrated in b/w, accompanied by texts in German and French by Stéphane Mallarmé, F.T. Marinetti, Tristan Tzara, Oyvind Fahlström, El Lissitzky, André Breton, Eugen Gomringer, Augusto de Campos, Decio Pignatari, Haroldo de Campos, Jan Hamilton Finlay, Pierre Garnier, Max Bense, Reinhard Döhl, Carlfriedrich Claus, Seiichi Niikuni, Henri Chopin, Franz Mon, Jiri Kolár, and Bob Cobbing.

Artists included: Stéphane Mallarmé, Arno Holz, Christian Morgenstern, F.T. Marinetti, Carlo Carrà, Lacerba, Ardengo Soffici, Hugo Ball, Georges Braque, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Amédée Ozenfant, Guillaume Apollinaire, Marcel Janco, Tristan Tzara, Raoul Hausmann, Fernand Léger, Richard Hülsenbeck, Vincente Huidobro, Francis Picabia, Jean Pougny, Kurt Schwitters, Paul Klee, Bruno Adler, Jean Epstein, Theo Van Doesburg, El Lissitzky, Jozef Peeters, Sonja Delaunay-Terk, Iliazd, Friedrich Kiesler, Man Ray, László Moholy-Nagy, Käthe Steinitz, Kurt Schwitters, Theo van Doesburg, Hans Arp, Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart, Henryk Berlewi, Farkas Molnár, Zenit, Hendrik Nicolaas Werkmann, Walter Gropius, John Heartfield, Marcel Duchamp, Le Corbusier, and Georges Hugnet.

Very Good ex-NGV library copy, well preserved with only light wear and "National Gallery of Victoria" light stamp to block edge and lower back-cover. No internal stamping/marking.

File under: Carlo Carrà F.T. Marinetti Filippo Tommaso Marinetti Arno Holz Christian Morgenstern Lacerba Ardengo Soffici Hugo Ball Georges Braque Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Amédée Ozenfant Guillaume Apollinaire Marcel Janco Tristan Tzara Raoul Hausmann Fernand Léger Richard Hülsenbeck Vincente Huidobro Francis Picabia Jean Pougny Kurt Schwitters Paul Klee Bruno Adler Jean Epstein Theo Van Doesburg El Lissitzky Jozef Peeters Sonja Delaunay-Terk Iliazd Friedrich Kiesler Man Ray László Moholy-Nagy Käthe Steinitz Theo van Doesburg Hans Arp Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart Henryk Berlewi Farkas Molnár Zenit Hendrik Nicolaas Werkmann Walter Gropius John Heartfield Marcel Duchamp Le Corbusier Georges Hugnet Walter Diethelm Jiří Kolář Öyvind Fahlström Stéphane Mallarmé F. T. Marinetti Filippo Tommaso Marinetti André Breton Haroldo de Campos Jan Hamilton Finlay Pierre Garnier Max Bense Reinhard Döhl Carlfriedrich Claus Seiichi Niikuni Henri Chopin Franz Mon Bob Cobbing Tristan Tzara El Lissitzky Eugen Gomringer Felix Andreas Baumann Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft Helmhaus Zürich / Zürich Group Shows / Collections Concrete Poetry Conceptual Art Dada Fluxus Art Fiction / Poetry Collage / Mail Art / Xerox Art Graphic Design / Typography Minimal Art Out-of-print / Rare Poetry Bauhaus

Sound : Space
Australasian Computer Music Conference 2008

2008, English
Softcover (staple-bound + cd), unpaginated, 21 x 14.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Australasian Computer Music Conference / Sydney

$15.00 - In stock -

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Privately issued catalogue, programme of concerts and schedule of proceedings published to accompany the Australasian Computer Music Conference 2008, entitled 'SOUND : SPACE', 10—12 July 2008 Sydney Conservatorium of Music Sydney, Australia. Features Tristram Cary, William Barton, Ros Bandt, Warren Burt, and many many others. Compact disc accompaniment with digital version of this publication and dance track samples to support Wooller and Brown - 'A framework for discussing tonality in electronic dance music'.

VG copy.

File under: Tristram Cary William Barton Ros Bandt Warren Burt Warren Burt Ros Bandt Australasian Computer Music Conference / Sydney Sound / Music Australian Art Art Group Shows / Collections Curatorial Out-of-print / Rare Theory / Essay Sculpture / Installation Performance / Dance / Theater Objects / Ephemera / A/V

Contemporary Music Review: Live Electronics
Edited by Peter Nelson and Stephen Montague

1991, English
Softcover, 238 pages, 25 x 17 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / good
Published by Harwood Academic Publishers / UK

$30.00 - Out of stock

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1991 issue of Contemporary Music Review, a jounral/forum for the in-depth discussion of new tendencies in composition. This issue, Volume 6 Part 1: Live Electronics / New Instruments for the Performance of Electronic Music, edited by Peter Nelson and Stephen Montague, including Annea Lockwood, Jerry Hunt, David Behrman, Warren Burt, Rolf Gehlhaar, Chris Mann, Ros Bandt, Joel Chadabe, Larry Austin, Morton Subotnick, Barry Schrader, David Rosenboom, John Rimmer, Mesias Maiguashca, and many more. A treasure for anyone interested in the break-neck developments of electroacoustic, computer and interactive sound.

Contents: (New Instruments for the Performance of Electronic Music) Introduction — Peter Nelson; Some remarks on musical instrument design at STEIM — Joel Ryan; The audio interface — David Bristow; The video harp: an optical scanning MIDI controller — Dean Rubine and Paul McAvinney; The UPIC as a performance instrument — Pierre Bernard; SOUND SPACE: an interactive musical environment — Rolf Gehlhaar; Cargo cult instruments — Nicholas Collins; (Live Electronics) Introduction — Stephen Montague; Barry Anderson; Live/electro-acoustic music - a perspective from history and California — Barry Schrader; Live-electronic music on the third coast — Larry Austin; Interactive performance systems — Jerry Hunt; Designing interactive computer-based music installations — David Behrman; About M — Joel Chadabe; Annea Lockwood interviewed by Stephen Montague; Observations on live electronics — Brian Bevelander; Experimental music in Australia using live electronics — Warren Burt; John Rimmer and free radicals: live electronic music in New Zealand — Elizabeth Kerr; Live electronic music in Britain: three case studies — Simon Emmerson; The German scene: Mesias Maiguashca interviewed by Stephen Montague; Live electronics in Denmark — Wayne Siegel; Real-time computer music at IRCAM — Cort Lippe; more...

VG copy, faded spine, light wear.

File under: Warren Burt David Behrman Stelarc Chris Mann Ros Bandt Annea Lockwood Cort Lippe Mesias Maiguashca Rolf Gehlhaar Jerry Hunt John Rimmer Ross Harris Joel Chadabe Larry Austin Morton Subotnick Barry Schrader David Rosenboom Warren Burt Cort Lippe Stephen Montague Peter Nelson Harwood Academic Publishers / UK Periodicals Sound / Music Performance / Dance / Theater Australian Art Art Theory / Essay Out-of-print / Rare Fluxus

PERCY GRAINGER & THE ARTS OF THE PACIFIC
Percy Grainger & the Arts of the Pacific.

1979, English
Softcover (staple-bound), 40 pages, 20 x 20 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / good
Published by Grainger Museum / Melbourne

$18.00 - In stock -

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Catalogue published in1979 by the Grainger Museum, Melbourne, to accompany the exhibition 'Percy Grainger & the Arts of the Pacific', to celebrate the 18th General Assembly, International Music Council (UNESCO), and World Music Week, September—October 1979. Catalogue reflecting Percy's love for Rarotongan and Maori music, his archives of writings, collected object artifacts, documents, photos, books, and sound recordings of Maori, Rarotongan and Aboriginal music taped from original wax cylinders. Complete with catalogues of items, illustrated biography, bibliography, etc.

Good copy with some cover wear and smal chip to base of front cover.

File under: Percy Grainger Grainger Museum / Melbourne Sound / Music Art Australian Art Out-of-print / Rare Whole Earth / Crafts

Stockhausen 70 Years
+ Stockhausen-Verlag catalogues c. 1998—2001

1998—2001, English
Softcover (staple-bound w. 7 additional loose leaf catalogues + postcard), 30 x 21 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / good
Published by Stockhausen-Verlag / Kürten

$65.00 - Out of stock

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1998 English-language catalogue publication issued on the 70th birthday of German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, offering a complete and detailed "work list of the 253 individually performable Stockhausen compositions and a list of all compact discs of the Complete Edition which have been released to date". A valuable resource of detailed information on Stockhausen's compositions, the work list is accompanied by a list of then-current European musicians who were performing Stockhausen's works, excerpt from Stockhausen's On The Evolution of Music, plus colour photographic studio portraits of the composer. Plus, a bonus additional 7 collected mail-out catalogues from Stockhausen-Verlag dating between 1998—2001 and a Stockhausen-Verlag postcard, all included in this copy.

Good copy, publications with some light rippling to bottom front cover, general light wear/bending/age for postal materials.

File under: Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen Stockhausen-Verlag / Kürten Periodicals Out-of-print / Rare Sound / Music Performance / Dance / Theater Art Objects / Ephemera / A/V

Licences n°0
Henri Chopin, William Burroughs, Nicolas Zurrbrugg, Elisabeth Prouvost, Raoul Haussmann, Alexandre Yterce

1999, French
Softcover (+ audio cd), 68 pages, 30 x 24 cm
Limited edition, numbered,
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / fine
Published by Éditions Licences / Paris

$70.00 - In stock -

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Scarce issue 0 from 1999 of the French journal/concert series/exhibition program Licences, the short-lived Revue-Disque periodical established by French composer Alexandre Yterce (b. 1959) devoted to Perversions, Voluptuousness and Sexualities, presenting unseen erotic works by artists, alongside rare interviews, texts and recorded performances and unreleased audio recordings, melding the worlds of transgressive, transformative sound, word and body. Texts, interviews photography, artworks and audio recordings by Henri Chopin, William Burroughs, Nicolas Zurrbrugg, Elisabeth Prouvost, Raoul Haussmann, Alexandre Yterce, Kenneth Gaburo, François Dufrène, and more.

Published in a limited edition, this copy hand-numbered "581". CD included. Also includes many laid-in ephemeral pieces — concert programs, promotional items for the periodical, business card, etc.

VG—NF copy.

File under: Henri Chopin William Burroughs Elisabeth Prouvost Raoul Haussmann Alexandre Yterce François Dufrêne Kenneth Gaburo Henri Chopin William Burroughs Nicolas Zurrbrugg Éditions Licences / Paris Sound / Music Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Painting Art Drawing Eros Group Shows / Collections Out-of-print / Rare Performance / Dance / Theater Theory / Essay Concrete Poetry Surrealism Situationism / Lettrism Photography

Alex Selenitsch
13 Ways of Looking at a Magpie

1998, English
Softcover (stitch-sewn w. dust jacket + insert), unpaginated, 21 x 21 cm
Ed. of 26, numbered,
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Alex Selenitsch / Melbourne

$200.00 - In stock -

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Privately produced, privately issued, artist's book of concrete poetry from Melbourne artist Alex Selenitsch (b. 1946), hand-bound and numbered in an edition of 26 copies allocated to each letter of the English alphabet. This copy "X". Pages sewn into white card wrappers with printed dust jacket and insert card preserved. Rare!

text in 12 & 18pt courier bold
set off macintosh word 5.1
photocopied onto 80 gsm bond
black pages of cover flap stock
modified by hand
cover hand-set in 10 & 12pt typewriter
and printed by John Ryrie
on village paper
published in an edition of 26 copies
this copy
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVW(X)YZ
with 5 proofs marked
a e i o u
poems & pages 1998 Alex Selenitsch

Since the late 1960s, Selenitsch’s practice has combined aspects of his education and work in architecture with his pursuits as a poet and artist. A unifying theme is the use and spatial manipulation of letters, words and objects to create an incisive, conceptual play between meaning and form. This is seen most directly in his three-dimensional creations, but also in concrete poems that likewise present a spatially fertile field. In these works, typographic elements and material properties are as significant in conveying ideas as words themselves.

VG copy.

File under: Alex Selenitsch Alex Selenitsch Alex Selenitsch / Melbourne Minimal Art Concrete Poetry Out-of-print / Rare Australian Art Art

Alex Selenitsch
Pixel

1999, English
Softcover (stitch-sewn w. dust jacket + insert), unpaginated, 21 x 21 cm
Ed. of 26, numbered,
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Alex Selenitsch / Melbourne

$200.00 - In stock -

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Privately produced, privately issued, artist's book of concrete poetry from Melbourne artist Alex Selenitsch (b. 1946), hand-bound and numbered in an edition of 26 copies allocated to each letter of the English alphabet. This copy "X". Pages sewn into white card wrappers with printed dust jacket and insert card preserved. Rare!

texts in 12pt and 24pt mishawaka bold
set off macintosh word 5.1 and photocopied on 80gsm bond
bookmark photocopied on tablex card and hand-punched
cover hand-set in various types and printed by John Ryrie on 160gsm "lime" canson mi-tientes
in an edition of 26 copies
this copy
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVW(X)YZ
with 5 proofs marked
a e i o u
poems c 1999 Alex Selenitsch

Since the late 1960s, Selenitsch’s practice has combined aspects of his education and work in architecture with his pursuits as a poet and artist. A unifying theme is the use and spatial manipulation of letters, words and objects to create an incisive, conceptual play between meaning and form. This is seen most directly in his three-dimensional creations, but also in concrete poems that likewise present a spatially fertile field. In these works, typographic elements and material properties are as significant in conveying ideas as words themselves.

VG copy.

File under: Alex Selenitsch Alex Selenitsch Alex Selenitsch / Melbourne Australian Art Art Concrete Poetry Out-of-print / Rare Minimal Art

Alex Selenitsch
Equals

1999, English
Softcover (stitch-sewn w. dust jacket + insert), unpaginated, 21 x 21 cm
Ed. of 26, numbered,
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Alex Selenitsch / Melbourne

$200.00 - In stock -

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Privately produced, privately issued, artist's book of concrete poetry from Melbourne artist Alex Selenitsch (b. 1946), hand-bound and numbered in an edition of 26 copies allocated to each letter of the English alphabet. This copy "X". Pages sewn into white card wrappers with printed dust jacket and insert die-cut card preserved. Rare!

"= signs photocopy-enlarged
and hand-cut-and-pasted
texts in 9pt(light)/12pt(bold)/24pt (bold) courier
set off macintosh word 5.1
photograph by Nick Selenitsch
scanned/edited by Sean Doyle

book photocopied on 80gsm bond
bookmark photocopied on tablex card

cover hand-set
and printed by John Ryrie on 160 gsm "azure" canson mi-tientes
in an edition of 26 copies this copy
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVW(X)YZ
with 5 proofs marked
a e i o u
poems and sculpture c 1999 Alex Selenitsch
photograph c 1999 Nick Selenitsch
sculpture installed at the Kangaroo Sculpture Award 1999 Kangaroo Ground, Victoria, Australia
"eekaal" by π.ο.
from The Fitzroy Poems, Collective
Collective Effort Press 1989"

Since the late 1960s, Selenitsch’s practice has combined aspects of his education and work in architecture with his pursuits as a poet and artist. A unifying theme is the use and spatial manipulation of letters, words and objects to create an incisive, conceptual play between meaning and form. This is seen most directly in his three-dimensional creations, but also in concrete poems that likewise present a spatially fertile field. In these works, typographic elements and material properties are as significant in conveying ideas as words themselves.

VG copy.

File under: Alex Selenitsch π.ο. Alex Selenitsch π.ο. Alex Selenitsch / Melbourne Australian Art Art Concrete Poetry Out-of-print / Rare Minimal Art

Alex Selenitsch
Augenblick (moment)

1998, English / German
Softcover (stitch-sewn w. dust jacket + insert), unpaginated, 21 x 21 cm
Ed. of 26, numbered,
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Alex Selenitsch / Melbourne

$200.00 - In stock -

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Privately produced, privately issued, artist's book of concrete poetry from Melbourne artist Alex Selenitsch (b. 1946), hand-bound and numbered in an edition of 26 copies allocated to each letter of the English alphabet. This copy "X". Pages sewn into white card wrappers with printed dust jacket and insert card preserved. Rare!

texts in 10pt and 24pt courier bold set off macintosh word 5.1 and photocopied on 80gsm bond
bookmark photocopied on tablex card
cover hand-set in 18pt typewriter and printed by John Ryrie on 160gsm "moonstone" canson mi-tientes
in an edition of 26 copies this copy
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVW(X)YZ
with 5 proofs marked
a e i o u
poems C 1998 Alex Selenitsch
translation of introduction C Angela Haas

Since the late 1960s, Selenitsch’s practice has combined aspects of his education and work in architecture with his pursuits as a poet and artist. A unifying theme is the use and spatial manipulation of letters, words and objects to create an incisive, conceptual play between meaning and form. This is seen most directly in his three-dimensional creations, but also in concrete poems that likewise present a spatially fertile field. In these works, typographic elements and material properties are as significant in conveying ideas as words themselves.

VG copy.

File under: Alex Selenitsch Alex Selenitsch Alex Selenitsch / Melbourne Concrete Poetry Australian Art Art Out-of-print / Rare Minimal Art

Behind Closed Doors: The Art of Hans Bellmer
by Therese Lichtenstein

2001, English
Hardcover (w. galssine dust jacket), 254 pages, 22.5 x 18.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by University of California / Berkeley International Centre of Photography / New York

$120.00 - Out of stock

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First 2001 hardcover edition of Behind Closed Doors: The Art of Hans Bellmer, Therese Lichtenstein's highly original book studying the the life-size, adolescent-girl dolls created by German artist Hans Bellmer in the 1930s.

Disturbing and controversial, Bellmer's dolls with their uncanny, fragmented bodies and eroticized poseswere just as shocking during Bellmer's time as they are today. Until now there has been little available in English about Bellmer's dolls, and Lichtenstein's book will be welcomed for its fresh interpretation of the artist's work and his place in European modernism. Eighty striking photographs accompany the text. Working during a time when Nazism was on the rise, Bellmer created several dolls with fragmented bodies that could be dismantled and arranged in various configurations. Using a narrative format, he then photographed the dolls in a range of grotesque, often sexual, positions. The images he conveyed were of death and decay, abuse and longing, in stark contrast to Nazism's mythic utopian celebration of adolescence.Lichtenstein interprets Bellmer's complex expressions of eroticism as a protest against the Nazis and also against his father, a cold and repressive Nazi sympathizer. At the same time, she says, by hyperbolically flaunting a passive femininity in a theatrical manner, Bellmer's images allow us to consider how cultural representations can affect the formation of identity and alternative possibilities.

"Behind Closed Doors reveals the complex structure behind these photographs of violated female adolescence, a structure in which sadism, masochism, hermaphroditism, fetishism, utopianism, and nostalgia all play a role. Above all, Lichtenstein's study makes clear the political aspect of these transgressive images: the way in which they served to question and undermine the contemporary authoritarian Nazi image of sexual 'normalcy' by recourse to a violent return of the repressed." -Linda Nochlin, author of Representing Women "Behind Closed Doors: The Art of Hans Bellmer is a compelling gathering of the narratives around psychoanalysis, visual culture, biology, and gender. Therese Lichtenstein rigorously examines Bellmer's picturing of the body as the site of desire, confusion, and sudden disaster, and in doing so produces a telling tale of history's secrets and lies."—Barbara Kruger

Therese Lichtenstein has taught art history and museum studies at New York University, Rice University, and Mount Holyoke College.

Very Good copy in Good original glassine dust jacket with some light wear.

File under: Hans Bellmer Therese Lichtenstein University of California / Berkeley International Centre of Photography / New York Surrealism Out-of-print / Rare Art Theory / Essay Photography Sculpture / Installation Drawing Eros Ero Guro / Erotic / Grotesque Fetishism / BDSM

HANS BELLMER
PHOTOGRAPHE

1983, Japanese
Hardcover (clothbound w. dustjacket), 152 pages, 20.5 x 30 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Orion Press / Tokyo

$160.00 - Out of stock

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Rare, exquisitely designed and produced book dedicated entirely to the photography of the German artist Hans Bellmer (1902—1975). Produced in French by Editions Filipacchi, Centre Georges Pompidou, and Musee National D'art Moderne in Paris in 1983, this very scarce Japanese printing (produced and printed in Japan that same year) features a different cover, with translations to the Japanese language of the introductory essay and texts. A beautiful photo book densely illustrated with colour and black and white reproductions of Bellmer's infamous doll photography, his many studies of the female nude (including those of his wife, artist Unica Zürn), and rare photography of his objects and sculptural assemblages, his studio, and more, this volume captures an important Surrealist visionary and one of the most daring artists of the 20th century through his stunning photography. Features the wonderful "La Poupee" — Hans Bellmer's articulated, anatomically amorphous Surrealist doll, reconfigured and captured through Bellmer's intimate hand-painted photographic images. "La Poupee" acquired iconic status as perhaps the purest exemplification of the Surrealist ideal of "convulsive beauty." Bellmer constructed his first doll in the early 1930s. André Breton and Paul Eluard described it as "the first and only Surrealist object with a universal, provocative power".

German artist Hans Bellmer (1902—1975) was one of the most subversive artists associated with Surrealism, famous—notorious, even—for his erotic engravings, objects and photographs. Many of Bellmer's works were inspired by the literary works of Comte de Lautréamont, Marquis de Sade and Georges Bataille, amongst others.

Very Good copy in VG dust jacket with light wear/tan.

File under: Hans Bellmer Unica Zürn Orion Press / Tokyo Surrealism Photography Sculpture / Installation Out-of-print / Rare Eros Ero Guro / Erotic / Grotesque Art

Les Dessins de Hans Bellmer

1966, French
Hardcover (clothbound w. dustjacket), 110 pages, 20.5 x 30 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Éditions Denoël / Paris

$160.00 - Out of stock

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Beautifully produced, scarce French hardcover monographic volume dedicated entirely to reproductions of Surrealist visionary Hans Bellmer's incredible drawings. This is the very first edition, published by Éditions Denoël, Paris, in 1966. With an introduction by Constantin Jelenski. A stunning book, and a key title in the artist's oeuvre.

German artist Hans Bellmer (13 March 1902 – 23 February 1975), was best known for the life-sized pubescent female dolls he produced in the mid-1930s. "Bellmer was born in the city of Kattowitz, then part of the German Empire (now Katowice, Poland). Up until 1926, he'd been working as a draftsman for his own advertising company. He initiated his doll project to oppose the fascism of the Nazi Party by declaring that he would make no work that would support the new German state. Represented by mutated forms and unconventional poses, his dolls were directed specifically at the cult of the perfect body then prominent in Germany. Bellmer was influenced in his choice of art form by reading the published letters of Oskar Kokoschka (Der Fetisch, 1925)."

Very Good – (in original dust jacket and protected under plastic wrap)

File under: Hans Bellmer Constantin Jelenski Éditions Denoël / Paris Surrealism Art Drawing Out-of-print / Rare Ero Guro / Erotic / Grotesque Eros Transgressive / Visceral / Abject

Alex Selenitsch
four 4-colour books

2008 / 2015, English
4 hand-sewn books in a plastic file (softcover books w. cut/folded coloured papers, white photocopy title sheet), each book 16 pages, 21 x 21 cm
Ed. of 32, numbered,
Published by Alex Selenitsch / Melbourne

$320.00 - In stock -

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Artist book edition published in an edition of 32 hand-numbered copies. Each edition is made up of 4 hand-sewn books in a plastic file. Each book comprises 16 pages of cut/folded coloured papers presenting a colour narrative: four pastel ‘primaries’ making colour tableaux, introduced and closed off by black and white covers.

The coloured pages are assembled from A3 sheets which have been halved: accurately in two cases (straight line orthogonal and straight line incline) or approximately (sinusoidal and horizontal tear). The cut-outs on the cover hint at the kind of division or halving that the coloured sheets have been subjected to. Both halves are used in the edition of each book, so that each edition of 32 copies with 4 folded sheets (giving 16 pages) uses 64 sheets. For the approximate cuts (sinusoidal and horizontal tear), there is some variation inside the edition.

File under: Alex Selenitsch Alex Selenitsch / Melbourne Art Australian Art Fiction / Poetry Objects / Ephemera / A/V Poetry

Love is Colder Than Death: Life and Times of Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Robert Katz and Peter Berling

1989, English
Softcover, 246 pages, 20 x 13 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Paladin / London

$80.00 - Out of stock

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First 1989 edition of this colossal and now rare biography and a painful gaze inside the life and times of the tortured cinematic genius that was Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Author Robert Katz knew Fassbinder, had worked with him, interviewed him in the months before his death, and spent three years researching his life and talking extensively to 'Fassbinder people'. The result is a fascinating and revealing study of the man who turned the hell he inhabited in the real world into some of the most powerful images in post-war cinema.

"A sort of a whirlwind of a book, matching perhaps in speed and compulsive fascination the rhythm of a life that produced forty-three films"—LITERARY REVIEW

When Rainer Werner Fassbinder died at the age of thirty-seven, his body bloated and poisoned by years of drug abuse, the award-winning director of The Marriage of Maria Braun was at the height of his fame and artistic reputation.

Fassbinder's prodigious cinematic output is legendary. Over a period of thirteen years, he made, on average, a film every hundred days. His intense discipline and phenomenal creative energy when working were in violent contrast with the excesses of abasement and tortured relationships of his personal life with the people he drew around him in a surrogate family.

Very Good copy with general light wear/tanning to extremities.

File under: Rainer Werner Fassbinder Rainer Werner Fassbinder Paladin / London Film / Video LGBTQ+ Out-of-print / Rare Art

Remedios Varo
The Mexican Years (Los años mexicanos)

2024, Spanish
Hardcover, 160 pages, 28 x 24 cm
Published by RM / Barcelona

$60.00 $30.00 - Out of stock

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First Spanish edition of this major book dealing with the life and work of Remedios Varo, one of the most interesting and mysterious surrealist painters of the 20th century. It is the first monograph dedicated to the artist that is spread worldwide and includes an introductory study by Masayo Nonaka, curator of the exhibition Mujeres surrealistas en Mexico and author of numerous books on Mexican surrealism. Masayo's studio offers a unique look at the pictorial universe of Remedios and is accompanied with magnificent reproductions of his most important paintings. The ensemble of works included in this book, was part of the exhibition In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States (In Wonderland: The Surreal Adventures of Female Artists in Mexico and the United States) Presented in 2012 in the United States and Canada.

100 images!

File under: Remedios Varo RM / Barcelona Surrealism Art Painting Art Brut / Folk / Visionary / Fantastic SALE

Martin Wong
Footprints, Poems, and Leaves

2024, English
Softcover, 68 pages, 22 x 14 cm
Published by Primary Information / New York

$44.00 - In stock -

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Self-published in 1968, Footprints, Poems, and Leaves collects dozens of poems written by Martin Wong between 1966 and 1968. Hand-written in a signature calligraphic style that he was just beginning to develop, the poems ebb and flow visually across the page, much like the fluctuating characters, scenes, and moods that inhabit them. This was Wong’s first book of poetry and it contains a double cover showcasing intricate drawings of skeletal angels and other tableaux, as well as a folded, looseleaf broadsheet containing two poems and a drawing of a boney leaf.

The poems were written during a relatively free period for the artist, shortly after he dropped out of Berkeley and began exploring San Francisco at the height of the hippy movement. The poems range from surrealist and pastoral descriptions of the urban subculture that surrounded him to downtrodden, travel-weary biographical entries that are both lonely and tender. Footprints, Poems, and Leaves functions like a journal capturing Wong’s tumultuous life in this period, which included being arrested at a queer, drug-fueled house party (along with Rudolf Nureyev and Dame Margot Fonteyn) and a stay in a mental institution in late 1967 and early 1968. Around the time of the book’s publication, Wong enrolled in Humboldt State University to finish his degree, beginning a new chapter for the artist.

Despite the dark backdrops of many of the works, the writing displays a playfulness with form and language and a sense of humor that can be seen throughout Wong’s later work as well. Altogether, Footprints, Poems, and Leaves creates a rich tapestry of visual poetry that is both a product of its time and the budding artistic mind of a young Martin Wong.

Martin Wong (1946-1999) was born in Portland, Oregon and raised in San Francisco, California. He studied ceramics at Humboldt State University, graduating in 1968. Wong was active in the performance art groups The Cockettes and Angels of Light before moving to New York in 1978. He exhibited for two decades at notable downtown galleries including EXIT ART, Semaphore, and P·P·O·W, among others, before his passing in San Francisco from an AIDS related illness. His work is represented in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; The Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, NY; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, among others. Human Instamatic, a comprehensive retrospective, opened at the Bronx Museum of The Arts in November 2015, before traveling to the Wexner Center for the Arts in 2016 and the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in 2017. In 2022, the first extensive, touring exhibition of Wong’s work in Europe, Martin Wong: Malicious Mischief, opened at Museo Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo in Madrid before traveling to KW Institute of Contemporary Art (Berlin), Camden Art Centre (London), and Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam).

Managing Editor (2024): James Hoff
Managing Designer (2024): Rick Myers

File under: Martin Wong Primary Information / New York LGBTQ+ Drawing Poetry Painting Art

Martin Wong
Malicious Mischiefs

2022, English
Softcover, 352 pages, 28 x 21.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / as new
Published by Walther König / Köln KW Institute for Contemporary Art / Berlin

$350.00 - In stock -

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First, only edition, very quickly out-of-print.

New major publication published to accompany the first extensive European exhibition of the work of the US-Chinese artist Martin Wong (b. 1946, Portland, US, d. 1999, San Francisco), ‘Martin Wong: Malicious Mischief’, initiated by KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin. Curated by Krist Gruijthuijsen and Agustín Pérez-Rubio, and produced in collaboration with Camden Art Centre, Stedelijk Museum and Museo Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Malicious Mischief is the result of exhaustive research into the life’s work of Wong from his early creations on the US East Coast to his work in the late-1990s before he died due to an VIH/AIDS-related illness.

Martin Wong is recognized for his depictions of social, sexual, and political scenographies from the US in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Poetically weaving together narratives of queer existence, marginal communities, and urban gentrification, Wong stands out as an important countercultural voice at odds with the art establishment’s reactionary discourse at the time. Heavily influenced by his immediate surroundings, the artist’s practice merges the visual languages of Chinese iconography, urban poetry, graffiti, carceral aesthetics, and sign language. His work offers rare insight into decisive periods of recent US American history as told through its changing urban landscapes, unfolding hidden desires, and complexities.

Martin Wong: Malicious Mischief presents a vast survey of Wong’s works, encompassing early paintings and sculptures made in the euphoric environments of San Francisco and Eureka, California, in the late 1960s and early 1970s; Wong’s iconic 1980s and 1990s paintings from his time as a citizen of a dilapidated New York City; lastly, his reminiscences on the imagery of Chinatowns on the East and West Coast, made prior to his premature death from an HIV/AIDS-related illness.

Edited by curators Krist Gruijthuijsen and Agustín Pérez Rubío.
Contributions by Julie Ault, Sofie Krogh Christensen, David J. Getsy, Heinz Peter Knes, Marci Kwon, Agustín Pérez Rubio, Danh Vo.
Co-published by Walther Koenig with KW Berlin.

As New copy.

File under: Martin Wong Heinz Peter Knes Danh Vo Agustín Pérez Rubío Krist Gruijthuijsen Julie Ault Sofie Krogh Christensen David J. Getsy Marci Kwon Danh Vo Walther König / Köln KW Institute for Contemporary Art / Berlin Painting Drawing LGBTQ+ Performance / Dance / Theater Art

Anne Collier
Women With Cameras (Anonymous)

2018, English
Softcover,168 pages, 25.4 x 25.4 cm
Out of print title / as new
Published by Karma / New York

$90.00 - Out of stock

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Now out-of-print second edition of Women with Cameras (Anonymous), a new artist's book by Anne Collier (born 1970), with a text by Hilton Als (winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism), that consists of a sequence of 80 images of found amateur photographs that each depict a female subject in the act of holding a camera or taking a photograph.

Dating from the 1970s to the early 2000s, these artifacts of the pre-digital age were collected by Collier over a number of years from flea markets, thrift stores and online market places. Each of these photographs has, at some point in the recent past, been discarded by its original owner. The concept of "abandonment," of photographic images and the personal histories that they represent, is central to Women with Cameras (Anonymous), which amplifies photography's relationship with memory, melancholia and loss. The sequence of the images in Collier's book follows the format of her 35mm slide projection work Women with Cameras (Anonymous) (2016), that was recently shown to great acclaim in Tokyo, Japan, and Basel, Switzerland.

Printed in two editions with different covers by Karma (both 1,500 copies), both are out-of-print. This is the second edition. Sealed As New copy.

File under: Anne Collier Karma / New York Photography Art Out-of-print / Rare

Seiu Ito
Kinbaku Photographs

2023, Japanese
Softcover (w. dust jacket and obi), 128 pages, 18 x 15 cm
Published by Atelier Third / Tokyo

$70.00 - In stock -

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Brand new photo book collecting Seiu Ito's "research" photographs which were inspiration and reference for some of his many torture and bondage artworks. Ito, "the father of modern kinbaku", commissioned a photographer to take these now historical photos which are held at the "Abnormal Museum" in Iidabashi, Tokyo, Japan.

Seiu Ito (1891—1960) Seiu Ito, also romanised as Seiyu Itoh, was a Japanese painter, recognised today as "the father of modern kinbaku". Ito's life was the subject of director Noboru Tanaka's 1977 Nikkatsu Roman porno film Beauty's Exotic Dance: Torture!, the final entry in his "Showa Era trilogy". Ito uses his skilful technique to draw realistic torture pictures, and as a master of these paintings, he has many fans and has written masterpieces such as "The Story of Blame." On the other hand, he not only left behind many masterpieces of ghost paintings, but also loved the street customs of Edo and wrote books about Edo customs.

File under: Seiu Ito Seiu Ito Atelier Third / Tokyo Eros Fetishism / BDSM Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Art Photography Japanese Photography Performance / Dance / Theater

Notations 21
by Theresa Sauer

2009, English
Hardcover, 318 pages,‎ 22.5 x 28.7 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / as new
Published by Mark Batty / US

$440.00 - In stock -

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Exceptionally rare, collectible first edition hardcover volume of Notations 21, the anthology drawing inspiration from John Cage's Notations. Notations 21 features illustrated musical scores from more than 100 composers from every continent, all of whom are innovators in the art of notation. Each score is accompanied by written contributions from the artists, explaining how the music manifested visually, exploring every facet of their creative processes, from inspiration to execution. Contributors include the likes of Karlheinz Stockhausen, Earle Brown, Halim El-Dabh, Joan La Barbara, and Yuji Takahashi, as well as emerging composers whose compositions are visually astounding and important. In the spirit of honuoring the 40th anniversary of Cage's seminal book, while furthering it in a 21st century context, a portion of the sales of this book were donated to the Foundation for Contemporary Performing Arts.

Includes: Victor Adan, Beth Anderson, Kerry John Andrews, Steve Antosca, Cecilia Arditto, Robert Ashley, Kevin Austin, Trevor Bača, Dennis Báthory-Kitsz, Steve Beck, Irene Becker, Cathy Berberian, David Berezan, Carl Bergstrøm-Nielsen, Philip Blackburn, Benjamin Boretz, Sam Britton, Earle Brown, Herbert Brün, Ellen Burr, John Cage, Allison Cameron, Joe Catalano, Raven Chacon, Chris Chalfant, Jef Chippewa, Kyong Mee Choi, Henrik Colding-Jørgensen, Nick Collins, David Cope, Philip Corner, Brent Michael Davids, Tina Davidson, Mario Diaz de Leon and Jay King, Robert Denham, Halim El-Dabh, Robert Erickson, Pozzi Escot, Julio Estrada, Rajmil Fischman, Robert Fleisher, Christopher Fox, Bruce L. Friedman, Guillermo Galindo, Malcolm Goldstein, Daniel Goode, Guillermo Gregorio, Barry Guy, Barbara Heller, Brian Heller, William Hellermann, Mara Helmuth, Sven Hermann, Christoph Herndler, Alan Hilario, Robin Hoffmann, Peter Hölscher, Tsai-yun Huang, Christoph Illing, Lynn Dob, David Evan Jones, John Kannenberg, Suk-Dun Kim, Panayiotis Kokoras, Slavek Kwi, Joan La Barbara, John Lane, Mark Lanqford, Hope Lee, Cheryl E. Leonard, Charlotte Lindvang, Anestis Logothetis, Bent Lorentzen, Martin Sebastian Loyato, Michael Maierhor, Tyler Mains, Keeril Makan, Dan Marmorstein, Dimitris Maronidis, Tony Martin, Kate Maxwell, Cilia McQueen, Rajesh Mehta, Ann MiUikan, Rene Mogensen, Stephen Montague, Robert Morris, Gordon Mumma, Gaël Navard, Phill NibLock, Gary Noland, Makoto Nomura, Eoin O'Keeffe, Pauline Oliveros - Vagn E. Olsson, Paul Paccione, Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri, Brice Pauset, Tommaso Perego, Joe Pignato, Jonathan Pitkin, Samuel Pluta, Larry Polansky, Alwynne Pritchard, Anthony J. Ptak, Takayuki Rai, Randy Raine-Reusch, Jon Raskin, Henrik Ehland Rasmussen, Herman Rechberger, Will Redman, Wendy Reid, Steve Roden, Dirk Rodney, Keren Rosenbaum, David Rosenboom, Marina Rosenfeld, Daniel Rothman, Theresa Sauer, R. Murray Schafer, León Schidlowsky, Catherine Schieve, Daniel Schnee, Brian Schorn, Barry Schrader, Phillip Schulze, Michael J. Schumacher, Elliott Sharp, Marilyn Shrude, Stuart Saunders Smith, Juan Maria Solare, Mathias Spahlinger, Jack W. Stamps, John Stead, Norbert Stein, Hans-Christoph Steiner, Peter Sterk, Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Stump, Chiyoko Szlavnics - Yuji Takahashi, Justinian Tamusuza, John Tchicai, James Tenney, Voya Tonecitch, Laura Toxvaerd, Jeffrey Trevino, Andrea Vaile, J. Simon van der Walt, Ivan Vincze, Stephen Vitiello, Douglas C. Wadle, Jennifer Walshe, Clive Wilkinson, Michael Winter, René Wohlhauser, Ge-Suk Yeo, David Young, Katherine Young and Jonathan Zorn, Judith Lang Zaimont, Edson Zampronha, Peter Zombola, Jonathan Zorn, Richard Carlyon, Philip and Gayle Neuman, Morgan O'Hara...

As New copy.

File under: Victor Adan Beth Anderson Kerry John Andrews Steve Antosca Cecilia Arditto Robert Ashley Kevin Austin Trevor Bača Dennis Báthory-Kitsz Steve Beck Irene Becker Cathy Berberian David Berezan Carl Bergstrøm-Nielsen Philip Blackburn Benjamin Boretz Sam Britton Earle Brown Herbert Brün Ellen Burr John Cage Allison Cameron Joe Catalano Raven Chacon Chris Chalfant Jef Chippewa Kyong Mee Choi Henrik Colding-Jørgensen Nick Collins David Cope Philip Corner Brent Michael Davids Tina Davidson Mario Diaz de Leon and Jay King Robert Denham Halim El-Dabh Robert Erickson Pozzi Escot Julio Estrada Rajmil Fischman Robert Fleisher Christopher Fox Bruce L. Friedman Guillermo Galindo Malcolm Goldstein Daniel Goode Guillermo Gregorio Barry Guy Barbara Heller Brian Heller William Hellermann Mara Helmuth Sven Hermann Christoph Herndler Alan Hilario Robin Hoffmann Peter Hölscher Tsai-yun Huang Christoph Illing Lynn Dob David Evan Jones John Kannenberg Suk-Dun Kim Panayiotis Kokoras Slavek Kwi Joan La Barbara John Lane Mark Lanqford Hope Lee Cheryl E. Leonard Charlotte Lindvang Anestis Logothetis Bent Lorentzen Martin Sebastian Loyato Michael Maierhor Tyler Mains Keeril Makan Dan Marmorstein Dimitris Maronidis Tony Martin Kate Maxwell Cilia McQueen Rajesh Mehta Ann MiUikan Rene Mogensen Stephen Montague Robert Morris Gordon Mumma Gaël Navard Phill NibLock Gary Noland Makoto Nomura Eoin O'Keeffe Paul Paccione Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri Brice Pauset Tommaso Perego Joe Pignato Jonathan Pitkin Samuel Pluta Larry Polansky Alwynne Pritchard Anthony J. Ptak Takayuki Rai Randy Raine-Reusch Jon Raskin Henrik Ehland Rasmussen Herman Rechberger Will Redman Wendy Reid Steve Roden Dirk Rodney Keren Rosenbaum David Rosenboom Marina Rosenfeld Daniel Rothman Theresa Sauer R. Murray Schafer León Schidlowsky Catherine Schieve Daniel Schnee Brian Schorn Barry Schrader Phillip Schulze Michael J. Schumacher Elliott Sharp Marilyn Shrude Stuart Saunders Smith Juan Maria Solare Mathias Spahlinger Jack W. Stamps John Stead Norbert Stein Hans-Christoph Steiner Peter Sterk Karlheinz Stockhausen John Stump Chiyoko Szlavnics - Yuji Takahashi Justinian Tamusuza John Tchicai James Tenney Voya Tonecitch Laura Toxvaerd Jeffrey Trevino Andrea Vaile J. Simon van der Walt Ivan Vincze Stephen Vitiello Douglas C. Wadle Jennifer Walshe Clive Wilkinson Michael Winter René Wohlhauser Ge-Suk Yeo David Young Katherine Young and Jonathan Zorn Judith Lang Zaimont Edson Zampronha Peter Zombola Jonathan Zorn Richard Carlyon Philip and Gayle Neuman Morgan O'Hara Pauline Oliveros Theresa Sauer Mark Batty / US Sound / Music Fluxus Performance / Dance / Theater Out-of-print / Rare Group Shows / Collections Art Concrete Poetry

Enclosure 3: Harry Partch
Edited by Philip Blackburn

1997, English
Hardcover (in publisher's box, stamped book), 524 pages, 30 x 21 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / fine
Published by American Composers Forum / Minnesota

$150.00 - In stock -

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First 1997 hardcover (boxed) edition of Enclosure 3: Harry Partch, produced, compiled, designed and edited by Philip Blackburn and published in this deluxe volume by American Composers Forum in Minnesota in a limited edition of only 800 copies. Harry Partch (1901—1974) was an American composer, music theorist, and creator of unique musical instruments. This lavish coffee table bio-scrapbook is a portrait chronicle of Partch's life and work compiled from original documents, reproduced throughout. Includes over 300 photographs by Partch and others, reproductions of Partch's writings and letters - a mass of important material (corres. inc. Anais Nin, John Cage, W.B. Yeats, Martha Graham, etc), lectures, drawings, reviews, sketches... A remarkable and beautifully made artefact. Limited edition of 800 copies. A "must have" for anyone with an abiding interest in musical "alternative universes".

Composer Harry Partch created a music that by its nature led to the Harry Partch invention of a fantastic array of percussion instruments. Rejecting equal temperament and much of Western musical heritage, he developed a system based on Just tuning and conceived of a "corporeality" that demanded special instrumental resources. He spoke of himself as "a musician seduced into carpentry" and built sculpture-like instruments such as the Diamond Marimba, Bass Marimba, Cloud Chamber Bowls, Spoils of War, and Quadrangularis Reversum. His music, mostly dramatic, was influenced by, among other things, Chinese lullabies, Yaqui Indian music, Christian hymns, his experiences as a hobo, Greek philosophy and drama, and jazz. His large-scale dramas required that the percussionists become actor-dancers. Among his major works are "Delusion of the Fury," "The Wayward," "Revelation in the Courthouse Park" and "Oedipus."

Fine copy in the seldom preserved publisher's box and with the Partch signature stamp to front endpaper. A stunning collector copy.

File under: Harry Partch John Cage Anaïs Nin W.B. Yeats American Composers Forum / Minnesota Sound / Music Art Out-of-print / Rare Art Brut / Folk / Visionary / Fantastic Performance / Dance / Theater