Detail from the spiral-bound catalogue for Wolfgang Tillmans: Still Life; a 2002 exhibition organized at Harvard's Fogg Art Museum. For more, see number 16 below.

Harper's Books: December Selections

A late-monthly list of selections from our Harper's Books team, relating to post-War art, photography, and subculture. Click the links for additional images and purchasing options. The Holiday Sale continues at our Chelsea bookshop through December 20 (Wednesday through Saturday, 11-6); bookshop and galleries then closed for the holidays through the first week of January.

1. ALBERS, Josef.

Homage to the Square (Framed Screenprint)

New York: Sidney Janis Gallery, 1993. Small screenprint (6.5 in. square) after Josef Albers' 1966 oil-on-masonite work Homage to the Square (blue-green, gray, brown); produced posthumously as one of three loose prints in a Sidney Janis exhibition catalogue. The exhibition (Nov. 18 - Dec. 31) was the first in the U.S. dedicated exclusively to Albers' late 48" square works. A sharp print, matted in white laquer frame (12 in. square). One of a selection of framed posters, prints, and ephemera offered in our Holiday Sale at 30% discounts, both online and in-store.

$850.00 $595.00 (30% off)

2. ANDERSON, Jonathan.  With Louise Bourgeois, Loewe, Barbara Hepworth, et al.

Disobedient Bodies: JW Anderson at The Hepworth Wakefield (Signed)

London: InOtherWords, 2017. First Edition. Quarto. SIGNED in black marker to front endpaper. Artist's catalogue published to accompany fashion designer Jonathan Anderson's exhibition at The Hepworth Wakefield in West Yorkshire (Mar. 18 - Jun. 18, 2017). Invited by the museum to curate a show from its collection, Anderson chose the theme of "disobedient bodies"—inspired by the sculptures of Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth—curating a series of fashion-art dialogues with works by Lynda Benglis, Louise Bourgeois, Constantin Brancusi, Comme des Garçons, Merce Cunningham, Helmut Lang, Yves Saint Laurent, Loewe, Sarah Lucas, Issey Miyake, Rick Owens, Dorothea Tanning, and Vivienne Westwood. More of a lookbook than exhibition catalogue, supplemented by a series of surreal images from Anderson's collaboration with photographer Jamie Hawkesworth (The Thinleys). A fine copy with original binding cord and labeled mylar envelope.

$400.00

3. CIESLEWICZ, Roman.  With David Bailey, Christian Boltanski, Roland Topor, et al.

Kamikaze: Revue d'Information Panique (3 Volumes, All Published)

Paris: Christian Bourgois / Galerie du Jour (Agnès B), 1976; 1991; 1997. First Editions. Folio. A three volume graphzine, published across the final two decades of Roman Cieslewicz—the Polish-French graphic artist who worked in the photomontage tradition of John Heartfield, in rather parallel fashion to Barbara Kruger. (Where Kruger was trained in paste-ups at Mademoiselle, Cieslewicz worked for Vogue and Elle). His "Panic News Review" was a kind of late-20th century doomscroll, with stark compositions imaging both political atrocities and celebrity culture; from Nixon, Hitler, Milosevic, and Yeltsin to Madonna, Maradona, Muhammad Ali, and Barrry White. Cieslewicz's designs accompanied by texts and illustrations from the likes of David Bailey, Christian Boltanski, Marie-Laure de Decker, and Roland Topor. Cieslewicz was working on the maquette for the final issue just before his fatal heart attack in 1996. Minor scuffing to illustrated wrappers; near fine. An uncommon set, with only two OCLC records located in North America.

$2000.00

4. GUGGENHEIM, Peggy and Max Ernst.

La Collezione Peggy Guggenheim (1948 Venice Biennale Catalogue)

Venezia: [Biennale], 1948. First Edition. Duodecimo (4.5 x 3.25 inches). Hand-numbered as copy 566 of 1000. A charming catalogue published to accompany the post-War exhibition of Peggy Guggenheim's modern art collection at the 1948 Venice Biennale; installed in the Greek pavilion that had been left empty by civil war. The next year, Guggenheim would purchase the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni on the Grand Canale to grant the collection a permanent European home. Illustrated with 104 black-and-white reproductions of the artworks; supplemented by short texts from Guggenheim, Herbert Read, Jean Arp, and Max Ernst, who also supplies the cover illustration. Original ownership inscription in pencil to half-title page. Some creasing to front cover, else near fine. Uncommon in trade, with 6 OCLC records located in North America.

$750.00

5. INDIANA, Robert and Eleanor Ward.

LOVE and a Merry Christmas (Greeting Card, Inscribed by Eleanor Ward)

New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1965. Screenprint (6.25 x 6.4 inches). First of many issues of this famous greeting card designed by Robert Indiana for MoMA's celebrated holiday card program; one year after he developed his iconic LOVE motif through his own Christmas card drawings that he sent to friends. This particular holiday card INSCRIBED by gallerist Eleanor Ward, whose Stable Gallery gave Indiana both his first and second solo exhibitions—and would hold a third show in 1966, which included Indiana's first LOVE sculpture. Some creasing and faint discoloration to screenprinted cover; rear cover affixed to a cardstock backing fastened into a contemporary wooden frame (7.25 x 7.5 in.), with additional provenance inscription to backing.

$1000.00

6. LAGARRIGUE, Jean.

Les Aventures de Miss Liberty: Un Feuilleton (3 Volumes, All Published)

Paris: Editions de Lion Jérôme, 1974. First Editions. Quarto. A three volume underground comic from Jean Lagarrigue, in which the Statue of Liberty leaves her station—aroused by young lovers and beckoned up the East River by saxophone strains—only to be pursued by Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger from their command center in the sixth wing of the Pentagon. The final issue hints at an unrealized vignette, where Lady Liberty would take-on the mysterious Ku-Klux-Kola. Minor scuffing to illustrated self-wrappers; near fine. Scarce, with only two records located in OCLC worldwide; both incomplete.

$500.00

7. KOREN, Leonard.  With Helmut Newton, John Duncan, et al.

WET: The Magazine of Gourmet Bathing (Issue 30)

Santa Monica, CA: Wet Enterprises, 1981. First Edition. Slim quarto. Issue 30 (Mar/Apr 1981) of Leonard Koren's deliciously baroque artist's magazine on "gourmet bathing;" blending aesthetics, hygiene, philosophy, photography, and pop culture. This sought-after late issue notable for its feature on Helmut Newton—as "photographer of the erotic rich"—and the controversial review of the necrophilic performance art of John Duncan ("Sex with the Dead: Art or Atrocity?"); an article that had the magazine banned from some of its usual sales outlets. Some edge-wear to illustrated wrappers; close to near fine.

$150.00

8. LICHTENSTEIN, Roy.

Silk Screen from Banner by Roy Lichtenstein (Greeting Card Multiple)

New York: Multiples Inc. / Printed in West Germany, 1969. Bifolium greeting card with screenprinted cover (9.5 x 4.75 inches) after Lichtenstein's Moonscape Banner (1966). From an edition published by Marian Goodman's Multiples Inc. Blank interior; publishing details printed to verso. Very minor scuffing; near fine.

$1000.00

9. MAN RAY (photographs) and Max Ernst (collage).  With José Corti (bookseller).

Livres et Publications Surréalistes... (Surrealist Bookseller's Catalogue)

Paris: Librairie José Corti, 1931. First Edition. Octavo. An historic catalogue from Surrealist bookseller José Corti, documenting the range of Surrealist publications around the time of the Second Manifesto—from the likes of Aragon, Breton, Bunuel, Dali, and Tzara, whose portraits are here photographed by the likes of Man Ray. Front cover illustrated after an original collage by Max Ernst, with rear cover boasting the "Lisez/Ne lisez pas" manifesto, promoting Heraclitus over Plato, Freud over Bergson, and Lenin over Sorel. A close to near fine copy, with some stress at spine of stapled wrappers, supported by contemporary glassine.

$500.00

10. MUNARI, Bruno.

Xerografia: Documentazione sull'Uso Creativo delle Macchine Rank Xerox

[Milano]: Rank Xerox, [1970]. First Edition. Quarto. An applied artist's book from Bruno Munari, published by Rank Xerox to accompany an experimental photocopy lab they installed within Italy's pavilion at the 1970 Venice Biennale. Introduced by a quote from Marshall McLuhan—regarding the democracy of "instantaneous publishing"—the book is fully-illustrated after reproductions of Munari's xerography experiments since 1963. Contents: [52] pages; text in Italian. (Maffei, p. 131). Faint creasing to lower corners of illustrated wrappers, with very minor toning; a close to near fine copy of this landmark art/tech collaboration.

$1500.00

11. PETTIBON, Raymond.

Captive Chains

Lawndale, CA: SST Publications, 1978. First Edition. Slim quarto. "In this issue: no bronze-skinned barbarians, their wonderful muscles rippling...; no lush science fiction, art nouveau, mythology (pick 1) pieces to hang next to your McDonald's Neiman; no art as therapy for devotees of de Sade and Sacher-Masoch; no stories about peace-loving hippies vs. heartless authorities, set in the summer of love... 2067; no superheroes for your kid brother." So goes the introduction to Raymond Pettibon's first publication—which begins as a relatively straightforward comic book narrative, before transitioning to the aphoristic visuals that would come to define his style. Contents: 32 fully-illustrated newsprint leaves. Some edge-wear to side-stapled glossy wrappers; near fine.

$500.00

12. PICABIA, Francis.

Quelques Oeuvres de Picabia (Époque Dada, 1915-1925)

Paris: Galerie Artiste et Artisan, 1951. Folding exhibition leaflet (10.5 x 8.5 in. unfolded). Scarce catalogue from an early retrospective on Francis Picabia's Dada-era works (1915-1925), organized at Galerie Artiste et Artisan (Nov. 20 - Dec. 4, 1951). The rear panel provides a short-title list of the 25 exhibited works, alongside an impressive list of their lenders: Jean Arp, André Breton, Michel Tapié, Tristan Tzara, and Picabia himself. Illustrated with reproductions of two playful Picabia drawings; accompanied by brief reflections on the Dada spirit from the likes of Breton and Blaise Cendrars. Printed to green sheet; close to near fine, with minor toning and faint foldlines. Scarce, with 3 OCLC records located in North America; Ronny van de Velde produced a reprint in 1993.

$450.00

13. PISTOLETTO, Michelangelo.

Pistoletto (First Exhibition Catalogue)

Torino: Galatea, 1960. Octavo. Bifolium catalogue from Michelangelo Pistoletto's first exhibition of paintings (Mar. 30 - Apr. 15, 1960). With descriptive list of 20 exhibited works accompanied by an insightful commentary from Luigi Carluccio—positioning Pistoletto as against-the-grain, for his post-War commitment to figuring the human body. Front panel illustrated with a striking tipped color plate. Two pinholes to front panel; thus close to near fine. Scarce, with single OCLC record located worldwide (Reina Sofia).

$600.00

14. RICHTER, Gerhard and Sigmar Polke.

Polke/Richter. Richter/Polke (Richter's First Artist's Book)

Hannover: Galerie h [August Haseke], 1966. First Edition. Thin octavo. "Everyone else was making deadly serious catalogues and we poked fun at everything." That was the motivation for Gerhard Richter's first bookwork; a collaboration with Sigmar Polke, produced as supplement to their dual exhibition at August Haseke's Hannover gallery (Mar. 1-26, 1966). Adopting the style of the previous three Galerie h catalogues—this was gh4—Richter and Polke approached the project as collage, cutting and pasting texts from German pulp and sci-fi novels onto a maquette, composed next to photographs of their artworks and of them in the bath. Once the copies were uniformly printed, they created the illusion of a "seemingly coherent text." Staple-bound with dual front covers, so that both artists could have their names appear first. (Obrist/Schwarz, p. 34). This copy with offsetting from bright red wrappers and faint trace of moisture, but still better than very good. Scarce, with only 6 OCLC records located worldwide; two in the United States.

$3500.00

15. THEK, Paul.

Chasm–Shazam / A Celebration for Paul Thek (Memorial Card)

New York: St. Mark's Church, 1988. Announcement card (5.75 x 4.25 inches) for Paul Thek's memorial service at St. Mark's Church, organized by Sheyla Baykal a few months after Thek's death in August. Service details printed to verso; recto illustrated after an angel-wing drawing, with ambiguous wordplay ("Chasm-Shazam"). A sharp copy; close to fine.

$300.00

16. TILLMANS, Wolfgang.

Wolfgang Tillmans: Still Life (Harvard Exhibition Catalogue)

Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Art Museums, 2002. First Edition. Quarto. Uncommon catalogue published on the occasion of Wolfgang Tillmans' exhibition at Harvard's Fogg Art Museum (Oct. 25, 2002 - Feb. 23, 2003). Illustrated with color reproductions of 36 of the 37 exhibited photographs (1988-2002) and introduced by an essay from Benjamin Paul, the show's graduate student curator. Spiral-bound illustrated covers, with minor rounding to top corner, else near fine.

$750.00

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