300
300
bound printed paper, VHS tape, screenprint on wood, offset lithograph, printed pencils
estimate: $500–700
result: $2,358
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Complete Lot Details
Laments (Artist's book and VHS tape) Jenny Holzer, Dia Art Foundation, New York, 1989. This work is from the edition of 2500.
Living Jenny Holzer, Yvon Lambert, Paris, 1998. This work is from the First Edition.
Eating Through Living Jenny Holzer and Peter Nadin, Tanam Press, Inc., New York, 1981.
Wooden postcards from the Survival Series (set of five) Jenny Holzer, Printed Matter, Inc., New York, 2002.
Pencils from the Survival Series (set of twelve) Jenny Holzer, 1991.
Truism Stamps (three sets) Jenny Holzer. Lot includes three sets of Truism stamps in their original envelopes.
Black Book Posters (ten works) Jenny Holzer, Printed Matter, Inc., 1995. These works are from the third edition.
Various Manners with Various Things
Artists' Books & Ephemera
The following comprehensive private sale of artist’s books and ephemera represents a pinnacle of awareness and compassion in collecting. Any reference library is forever bolstered by the infusion of the loosely defined printed matter section: the oft-hidden editions that, masterfully, if not slyly, reveal the artists’ personal connection to their own art. These compact and portable treatises emerge as artworks in their own right, replicated and shared in small or large runs.
If it is possible to build a library through careful deliberation and random encounter at play simultaneously, it has been done here—this library was beloved and cherished.
Here at present we have a remarkable atlas, of both artists and collectors. The printed passageways featured in Artists' Books & Ephemera offer a glimpse into each artist’s unique, democratic application of their ideas through hybrid, handheld, shareable art. Collecting is truly a lifestyle and an art of its own; every single artist presented here has a special connection to the sellers. If it is possible to build a library through careful deliberation and random encounter at play simultaneously, it has been done here—this library was beloved and cherished.
Logistically, the sheer volume of primary information contained within each title is impressive. Here we are confronted with the spectacular rawness of each artist’s specific output. The tensions between intricacy and simplicity remain forever entertaining. One ought to fall deeper in love with the artist through this display of tenderness and the depth of philosophy that each piece affords.
Outstanding examples pepper this collection, among them: Martin Kippenberger books doctored with scribbles, hastily drawn in his frenetic energy; numerous books by Lawrence Weiner, with his signature typeface. Delving deeper, we encounter rare Jan Bas Ader publications, a Marcel Broodthaers Magic Slate multiple (so fragile are his signatures on this piece!), outstanding Conceptual art publications and a Dieter Roth Hansjorg Mayer collection, alongside his editioned multiples–heady and stout but quirky and irreverent.
The collection goes deeper with Jill Magid’s documentation logs, Christian Marclay’s unplayable records, or Kiki Smith’s Tidal–an accordion-folded lunar masterpiece. A bold and exhaustive undertaking by Alighiero Boetti classifying the planet’s one thousand longest rivers is harshly contrasted by Xerox-borne reproduction documents from Steven Leiber.
Among larger group lots, we find a large collection of Imprint 93 publications, an art project started by Matthew Higgs. Another lot contains forty-two publications from Hanuman Books artist’s series in miniature–pure gems! There are numerous editioned works published by Monchengladbach featuring the likes of Blinky Palermo, Piero Manzoni, Jannis Kounellis, Carl Andre, Hanne Darboven, and James Lee Byars. Jenny Holzer shirts and stockings from the now-defunct Barney’s New York are joined by an Allen Ruppersberg’s Al’s Café ephemera group, which is presented alongside a nice selection of his artist’s books.
Several group lots focused on rare exhibition catalogs, monographs on Minimalism, comics (an entire lot is devoted to R. Crumb and his psychotic glory), short-lived publications, a collection of Destroy All Monsters material, Ex Libris Bookplates, and much more. There is hardly a limit to the charm of this collection.
Ultimately, each book, pamphlet, comic, fold, crease, and scribble coalesce into a powerful map of the minds and passion of the collectors behind Artists' Books & Ephemera.
Ultimately, each book, pamphlet, comic, fold, crease, and scribble coalesce into a powerful map of the minds and passion of the collectors behind Artists' Books & Ephemera. Our own individual predilections and fascinations make the story of this material timeless and, indeed, endless. It has been an honor to swim in this printed ocean, coming up for air only when strictly necessary.
All of these carefully vetted lots are mean to engage and excite the viewer, letting the collection blossom in texture and character. This–the infinite magic granted to us by such a library–is as profound as it is enlightening.
—Peter Jefferson, Senior Specialist
Jenny Holzer b. 1950
Jenny Holzer is a celebrated neo-conceptual artist whose masterful use of language has made her one of the most influential artists of her generation. Born in 1950 in Gallipolis, Ohio, Holzer studied painting and printmaking at Ohio University before receiving her MFA in painting at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1977. That same year, she moved to New York City to begin in the Independent Study Program at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Though still continuing with painting, it was here that she began to explore the power of text.
For Holzer, this shift from an image-based focus to one that relied heavily on concept echoed a prevailing feeling in the art world and opened her up to novel ways of connecting with her audience. Within a year, she had begun her Truisms series, a collection of popular and sometimes provocative printed maxims, and concurrently, her Inflammatory Essays, based on the writings of incendiary figures such as Adolf Hilter, Mao Zedong, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky and Emma Goldman, both of which would continue into the 1980's.
Holzer’s language ranges from the aggressive and antagonistic to the intimate and introspective, sometimes representing her political views on issues such as feminism, poverty, nuclear technology or toxic culture and sometimes, not at all. Her works, which began as handbills posted illegally throughout Manhattan, have always been part of the public domain, demanding personal reflection from her viewers without the influence of artist or institution. As she explained in an interview with Arts Magazine in 1985, “From the beginning, my work has been designed to be stumbled across in the course of a person’s daily life. I think it has the most impact when someone is just walking along, not thinking about anything in particular, and then finds these unusual statements either on a poster or in a sign.”
Over time, her texts evolved from printings on posted bills, to shirts, baseball hats and condom wrappers, to scrolling LED displays, billboards and video with other media finding its way into projects, such as her granite benches that occur repeatedly throughout the years. Her light projections have appeared on public spaces such as a ski jump in Lillehammer, the Pyramide du Louvre in Paris and the sides of buildings throughout New York City.
In 1990, Holzer became the first woman to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale and her installation of scrolling LED messages was awarded the Leone d’Oro for best pavilion. Recently, Holzer has returned to painting and printmaking in a continuation of her confluence of art and politics. Through her innovative and resonant works, remains a highly regarded contemporary artist.
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