Cross––Currents Post––War Books, Prints & Multiples
30th April –– 25th May 2018
Intoduction Sims Reed is pleased to announce the exhibition Cross– Currents: Post-War Books, Prints & Multiples. Major exponents of conceptual, abstract, performance and minimalist art are here brought together, drawing on the international patterns of artistic exchange and collaboration in the post-war era. The catalogue opens with Marcel Duchamp’s La Boîte-en-valise. This highly significant work by a French émigré who challenged long-held assumptions about what was considered art, paving the way for conceptual practices, is a fitting starting point for our exhibition. The migration of many artists, such as Duchamp, to the USA, also marked the gradual decline of Paris as an artistic centre. By the end of the Second World War attention was largely focussed on New York. Cross-Atlantic artistic exchange is exemplified by David Hockney’s visit to the USA in 1961. This marked for him a prolific period of printmaking that was inspired by the libertarianism of America, encapsulated in My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean. British pop contemporaries, historically over-shadowed by their American counterparts, are also well represented in the exhibition with prints by Gerald Laing, Allen Jones, Richard Hamilton and Patrick Caulfield (whom Hamilton introduced to the screenprint medium). Roy Lichtenstein’s Brushstrokes illustrates how the commercial technique of screenprinting was well adopted for pop’s vivid imagery, which here makes an ironic nod to Abstract Expressionism. ‘Op’ artists, such as Bridget Riley (Nineteen Greys, Large Fragment), soon recognised the suitability of screenprint’s
unmodulated surface for work that required clarity of outline and striking colour-blocks for its enquiry into visual perception. Riley’s cool non-objective language is complemented by the prints and portfolios of Sol LeWitt, American pioneer of conceptualism and minimalism, which is in turn illustrated by American contemporaries Donald Judd and Fred Sandback. Sol LeWitt explored the democratic medium of print and expanded the field of artist books and multiples alongside Ed Ruscha (Insects) during the 1960s and 70s. French artist Daniel Buren worked within LeWitt’s conceptual minimalist framework. His signature stripes (Passage), installed in locations, which circumvent the conventional gallery context for art, also serve to challenge our increasing appetite for novelty. The collecting and use of mass-produced printed images and ephemera is a common strand among the artists included in the exhibition. German artist Hans–Peter Feldmann collects in order to appropriate and challenge aesthetic sensibility, Richard Hamilton’s use of pre-existing photographic imagery is linked with pop’s consumerist strategies, and Dieter Roth, German-Swiss conceptual artist and long time collaborator with Hamilton, alighted most particularly (nay obsessively) on the postcard format, exemplified in Postkarte. Roth also shared with Joseph Beuys the use of organic materials; where fat and grease in Beuys’s work is imbued with symbolism (its power to heal, societal transformation), Roth’s own motivations for using substances such as cheese or chocolate are in part due to their gradual decay, transformation and iconoclastic potential. Beuys’s involvement in Fluxism, the conflation of art and life, provides further ties with Japanese artist Ay–O, whose Finger Box Suitcase invites the viewer to poke
their finger through various wooden boxes to feel the mysterious – perhaps disturbing – contents. The human body as subject matter became increasingly scandalous and provocative in the post-war climate, whether in Hans Bellmer’s dark surrealist masterpiece Les Jeux de la Poupée, Allen Jones’s typically fetishistic Waitress I, or for the body’s new role as a medium of experience, object of analysis, and tool of social protest through performance, seen in the Aktionism of Gunther Brus (Patent Merde). American artist Bruce Nauman also explored the body, and his inclusion here alongside fellow–performance artists Gilbert & George highlights their shared deployment of language as material, often to absurdist ends. The catalogue ends with Barcelona – a late print by the Catalan artist Joan Miró (L’Etranglé) and a work by French–conceptualist Christian Boltanski (NotÃcies del dia), which shows a plan of the city marked with crosses where police incidents occurred over a few days. The pairing characterises how divergent attitudes to making art had become in the latter half of the twentieth century, and how attempts to map the seemingly disparate artistic trajectories can reap revealing parallels in artistic thought.
Marcel Duchamp From or by Marcel Duchamp or Rrose Selavy (The Box in a Valise). (La BoÎte-en-Valise) Paris. Marcel Duchamp. 1941 – 1958. Folio. (400 x 376 x 92 mm). 68 miniature replicas and colour reproductions of works by Marcel Duchamp inserted or placed loosely as issued in the original grey coarse-weave cloth box.
A very scarce copy of Marcel Duchamp’s ‘La Boîte-en-Valise’ with a triple presentation: ‘To Art Buchwald /Marcel Duchamp / Cordialement / 1958’. From the Series ‘C’ issued in Paris in 1958, limited to 30 unnumbered copies, and assembled by Iliazd (Ilia Zdanevitch); this edition ‘C’ is usually unsigned but this example has three signed presentations from Duchamp.
Dieter Roth Postkarte / Postcard. (Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens Showing the Serpentine and the Round Pond) Cologne. Edition Taucher Verlag. 1969. (640 x 954 mm). Sheet of cardboard with monochrome photomechanical reproduction of a postcard (enlarged) with additional relief, plastic colour foil and grey impasto acrylic, verso with screenprint reproduction of the postcard verso (text, publication details and credits) in blue, signed, dated and numbered by Roth in green ink. Dieter Roth’s large format print multiple ‘Postcard: Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens Showing the Serpentine and the Round Pond’. From the edition limited to 50 copies, signed ‘Dieter Rot’, dated ‘69’ and numbered ‘5 / 50’ from the edition of 50 in green ink verso.
Richard Hamilton Swingeing London 67 Etching and aquatint with embossing, 1968. Signed in pencil and numbered from the edition of 70. Printed on mould-made paper by Grafica Uno, Milan. Published by Petersburg Press, London. (Lullin 70) 57 x 73 cm
Daniel Buren Passage Macerata. Edizione Artestudio. 1972. 7 vols. Square folio. (522 x 522 mm). Each vol. with printed title, list of contents and justification printed recto only and a varying number of leaves each with vertical offset printed colour stripes (width 88 mm) showing the varying compositions for each of the represented colours (‘Bleu’, ‘Jaune’, ‘Noir’, ‘Orange’, ‘Rouge’, ‘Vert’ and ‘Violet’). Original publisher’s white paper wrappers, printed title to front wrapper of each vol., spines with title, publisher and artist, loose as issued in original cream board slipcase. Daniel Buren’s 1972 artist book ‘Passage’ concerning the decomposition or recomposition of seven colours. From the edition limited to 110 unnumbered copies.
David Hockney My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean Etching and aquatint printed in colours, with collage, 1962. Signed and dated in pencil, numbered from the edition of approximately 50. Proofed by the artist at the Pratt Graphic Workshop, New York. Printed on wove paper by Ron Fuller and Peter Mathews at the Royal College of Art, London. (Tokyo 29; Scottish Arts Council 13) 57.2 x 77.8 cm
Roy Lichtenstein Brushstrokes Screenprint in colours, 1967. Signed in pencil and numbered from the edition of 300. Printed on off-white wove paper by Aetna Silkscreen Products, New York. Published by Leo Castelli Gallery, for the Pasadena Art Museum, California. (Corlett 45) 58.2 x 78.5 cm
Hans-Peter Feldmann Hans-Peter Feldmann / Das Museum im Kopf (Werner Lippert). Cologne. Buchhandlung Walther König. 1989. 4to. (245 x 216 mm). + Large folio. pp. 160. Feldmann’s book with printed text and colour and black and white illustrations throughout together with the additional monochrome screenprint ‘Ansicht vom Kölner Dom’ with additional colouring by hand by Feldmann. Original publisher’s boards and dust-jacket, the book and original print housed together in the publisher’s cloth-backed card board portfolio with ties. The very scarce deluxe edition of the catalogue published on the occasion of Feldmann’s exhibition at the Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen in Düsseldorf in 1990. From the edition limited to 30 copies with the large additional screenprint of Cologne cathedral (‘Ansicht vom Kölner Dom’) with extensive additional colouring in watercolour by Feldmann.
Günther Uecker Hommage à Achim von Arnim und Clemens von Brentano Olef & Aachen. Edition Fritz Kuhn. 1969. 8vo. (145 x 104 x 42 mm). [7 unnumbered doubled leaves]. Leaf with title recto and copyright verso, leaf with colophon recto and von Brentano and von Arnim’s original text verso, leaf with Uecker’s adapted text recto and copy number verso. Original publisher’s pink wrappers, printed title to spine in black and mounted pin-cushion to front cover, loose in original clear flexible plastic container. Guenther Uecker’s scarce early book / object / multiple. From the edition limited to 200 stamp-numbered copies; the cushion is signed by Uecker.
Bruce Nauman Raw War Lithograph printed in colours, 1971. Signed and dated in pencil, numbered from the edition of 100 (total edition includes 10 artist̢۪s proofs). (Cordes 7) 70.5 x 91.4 cm
Bruce Nauman Life Mask Lithograph, 1981. Signed and dated in pencil, numbered from the edition of 50 (total edition includes 13 artist̢۪s proofs). Printed on Arches Cover paper by Charly Ritt. Published by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles, with their blindstamp. (Cordes 41) 71 x 96.5 cm
Gilbert & George A Message from the Sculptors Gilbert & George London. Art for All. (Self-Published). 1969. 8vo. (204 x 126 mm). [2 leaves]. Leaf with preface recto, verso with printed text and five mounted specimens, leaf with publication details and the 5 loosely inserted original monochrome photographs. Original card wrappers with printed titles in black to front cover with elaborate masonic architectural decoration in relief and two small colour illustrations with silver highlights (Gilbert & George dressed as footballers), justification to rear cover. Gilbert & George’s extraordinary ‘postal sculpture’ including original photographs and ‘sculpture samples’. From the edition limited to 300 numbered copies, each numbered in sepia ink to rear cover. The samples are: 1. ‘G & G’s make-up. 2.G & G’s tobacco and ash. 3. G & G’s hair. 4. G & G’s coat and shirt. 5. G & G’s breakfast’; the front cover illustration depicts Gilbert & George dressed as footballers.
SaltoArte Brussels. Edition POUR écrire la Liberté. 1975. Folio. (370 x 304 x 77 mm). Boxed portfolio of objects by 31 artists. Loose as issued in original publisher’s hinged red card box with printed titles to covers and sides. Deluxe issue of ‘SaltoArte’ which includes signed multiples by various artists. From the edition limited to 1,000 numbered copies, with this one of 100 deluxe copies with each of the individual pieces signed and / or numbered by each artist.
Günter Brus Patent Merde Vienna. Self-published by the artist. 1969. 4to. (299 x 213 mm). 60 sheets with printed and mimeograph text and illustration throughout with additional original material inserted as issued. Original screenprinted card wrappers, metal rivet fasteners. Günter Brus’ scarce ‘Patent Merde’, this copy signed by Brus on the title and with additional Aktionist ephemera loosely inserted. From the edition limited to 70 copies with four original monochrome Aktionist photographs.
Ay-O Finger Box Suitcase. (Unique Fluxus object) Tokyo. 1966. Black vinyl attaché case containing 15 hollow wooden boxes each painted a different colour and measuring 8.2 x 8.2 x 8.2 cm, each box with circular hole to top with cut rubber membrane to allow the insertion of a finger to feel the contents: a nylon stocking, bristle brush, foam rubber, wooden block, door bell, empty space &c. Also included is the original battery and bell for one of the boxes and Ay-O’s signed certificate of authentication. A unique Fluxus ‘Finger Box’ object created by Ay-O for the Venice Biennale of 1966.
Jorg Immendorf, Wolf Vostell, et al. Interfunktionen. No. 1. (Deluxe edition) Friedrich Wolfram Heubach (Editor). Cologne. 1968. 4to. (296 x 211 mm). 70 leaves with printed and mimeograph text, inserted leaves from newspapers and illustration throughout with additional original material inserted as issued. Original publisher̢۪s printed wrappers. The very scarce deluxe edition of the first issue of Interfunktionen - likely issued only for the contributing artists in an edition of 8 - complete with original signed material from several of the journal̢۪s contributors; the total issue of Interfunktionen No. 1 was 120 copies.
Joseph Beuys & Henning Christiansen Celtic + ~~~. Dokumentation zur Aktion Munich. Edition Joerg Schellmann / Klüser und Schellmann. 1971. Large folio. (526 x 428 mm). White paper justification with details of the contents and edition pasted to lid interior of box, 10 original monochrome photographs by Katia van den Velden, each c.400 x 508 mm (or the reverse) and with the stamps ‘Celtic + ~~~’ and ‘COPYRIGHT etc.’ verso, aluminium canister with yellow label with printed title and manuscript details by Bernd Klüser containing 25 minute reel-to-reel film and glass flask with stopper sealed with beeswax containing gelatine; contents inserted or strapped into excised sections to interior of box as issued. Original publisher’s green / brown canvas drop back box with cloth strap fasteners, title to spine in sanguine. An excellent example of Joseph Beuys’ performance record / suitcase multiple Celtic + ~~~. From the edition limited to 100 numbered copies, signed and numbered by Beuys in pencil to the justification.
Hans Bellmer Les Jeux de la Poupée. Illustrés de Textes par Paul Eluard (Paul Eluard). Paris. Les Editions Premières. 1949. Small 4to. (252 x 194 mm). Printed text by Bellmer and Eluard illustrated with 17 original photographs by Hans Bellmer (including those for the front cover and title) each with additional colouring by hand. Original publisher’s black wrappers with mounted vignette photograph (matching that on the title), small pink title label to spine and pink bandeau. Hans Bellmer’s Surrealist masterpiece ‘Les Jeux de la Poupée’ with original hand-coloured photographs. From the edition limited to 136 stamp-numbered copies on Vélin Crèvecoeur du Marais, with this one of 120 signed by Bellmer in pencil.
Allen Jones Waitress I Photo-etching, 1999 Signed and dated in pencil, one of five artist’s proofs (aside from the numbered edition of 30). Printed on Bütten paper by Erhard Schmidt, Münster. Published by LEVY Galerie, Hamburg. 53.5 x 39.5 cm
David Hockney Celia with Green Plant Lithograph printed in colours, 1981. Signed and dated in pencil, numbered from the edition of 90. Printed on Arches Cover paper and published by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles, with their blindstamp and inkstamp on the verso. (Tokyo 240) 75.6 x 100.3 cm
Allen Jones Shoe Box The complete portfolio of seven lithographs printed in black and white and an aluminium sculpture, 1968. Each print signed and numbered from the edition of 200. Sculpture scratchsigned on the base. Contained in a PVC-covered shoe-box, with a colour screenprint inside the lid. Printed by E. Matthieu, Zurich. Published by Petersburg Press, London. Sculpture cast by the Enfield Foundry, London. (Lloyd 45 a-h) Each image: 35.5 x 28 cm
Allen Jones Fast Car Lithograph printed in colours, 1962. Signed and dated in pencil, numbered from the edition of 30. Printed and published by the artist at the Croydon College of Art, London. (Lloyd 16) 58.2 x 79 cm
Gerald Laing Deceleration I Screenprint in colours, 1968. Signed, titled and dated in pencil. Numbered from the edition of 150. Printed on smooth white paper by the artist. Published by the artist with his blind stamp. (Sims Reed 20) 58.5 x 89 cm Pendulum Screenprint in colours, 1968. Signed, titled and dated in pencil. Numbered from the edition of 75. Printed on smooth white paper by the artist. Published by the artist with his blind stamp. (Sims Reed 14) 89 x 58.8 cm
Bridget Riley Nineteen Greys The complete set of four screenprints in greys, 1968. Each signed, dated, titled and numbered from the edition of 75 in pencil. From the deluxe edition of 30 with the additional screenprint (signed, dated, titled and numbered from the edition of 30 in pencil). Printed on stiff card by Kelpra Studio, London. Published by the artist. (Schubert 8a-d) 75.5 x 76 cm
Sol LeWitt Arcs from Sides or Corners, Grids & Circles The complete set of eight screenprints in colours, 1972. Each signed in pencil, numbered from the edition of 100. Printed on Rives BFK wove paper by John Campione, New York. Published by Pio Monti, Macerata, Italy, with their blindstamp. (Tate S11; Krakow 1972.03) Each image: 35.4 x 35.4 cm Overall: 37.6 x 37.6 cm
Ed Ruscha Insects The complete portfolio, comprising six screenprints in colours and justification page, 1972. Each signed, dated and numbered from the edition of 100 in pencil (total edition includes 15 artist’s proofs). Three prints on paper-backed wood veneer and three on Fabriano Classico glazed-finish watercolor paper. Printed by Styria Studio, New York. Published by Multiples, Inc., New York and Los Angeles with their and the artist’s copyright inkstamp verso. Contained in the original cloth-covered portfolio case with the upper board covered in clear polythene and containing a quantity of reddish earth, gathered from Ruscha’s former playground at Hawthorne Elementary School, Oklahoma City. (Engberg 60-65) Each 52.2 x 69.5 cm
Bridget Riley Large Fragment Screenprint in colours, 2006. Signed in pencil and numbered from the edition of 50 plus 10 artist̢۪s proofs. Printed by Artizan Editions, Hove. Published by the artist. (Schubert 64) 128.3 x 109.2 cm
Sol LeWitt Two Asymmetrical Pyramids: Plate 3 Screenprint in colours, 1986 Signed in pencil and numbered from the edition of 20. Printed on Arches Cover White paper by Jo Watanabe and Kei Tsujimura, New York. Published by Multiples Inc., New York. (Krakow 1986.04) 96.5 x 157.5 cm
Sol LeWitt Fifty Silk Screen Prints Using All Combinations of Grids and Color The complete portfolio comprising fifty screenprints in colour, 1979. Each numbered 1 to 50, each signed in pencil and numbered from the edition of 10. With the title-page and colophon. Loose as issued in original wooden box with two clasps. Printed by Jo Watanabe, New York. Published by RĂźdiger SchĂśttle, Munich. (Krakow 1979.01) Each sheet: 35.6 x 71.1 cm Overall size: 40.8 x 76.4 cm
Fred Sandback Siebdruck (Screenprint) Screenprint in colours, 1985. Signed in pencil, from the edition of 40. (Jahn 112) 64 x 90 cm
Donald Judd Untitled Aquatint printed in black, 1978-79. Signed in pencil, numbered from the edition of 175 (the edition was not completed, there were also 15 artist̢۪s proofs). Printed on etching paper by Styria Studio, New York. Published by the artist. (Schellmann 101) 101.5 x 74.5 cm
David Hockney White Porcelain (from Moving Focus) Lithograph, etching and aquatint printed in colours, 1985-96. Signed and dated in pencil, numbered from the edition of 80. Printed on HMP handmade paper by Roger Campbell, Lee Funderburg and Rodney Konopaki, New York. Published by Tyler Graphics, Mount Kisco, New York, with their blindstamp. (Tokyo 285) 48 x 56.3 cm
Patrick Caulfield Screenprint, 1981-82. Signed in pencil, numbered from the edition of 80. Printed at Kelpra Studio, London. Published by Leslie Waddington Graphics, London. (Dempsey 67) 99.8 x 77.6 cm
Joan Miró L’Etranglé Etching with aquatint printed in colours, 1974. Signed in pencil, numbered from the edition of 50. Printed on Arches paper by Morsang, Paris. Published by Maeght, Paris. (Dupin 651). 140.5 x 94.5 cm
Christian Boltanski NotÃcies del dia Barcelona. Fundació Espai Poblenou. 1994. Book, cassettes, folder with original monochrome photograph as insert and folded linen-backed map, each loose or in card box and annotated by Boltanski in ink. Loose as issued in metallic box with paper label to upper cover, justification to label pasted to underside of lid. The deluxe edition of Boltanki’s ‘Noticies del dia,’ published on the occasion of the show ‘Faits divers’ May 12 - September 30, 1994; from the edition limited to 25 copies signed and numbered by Boltanski.
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