Category: ROTH, DIETER

DIETER ROTH, Der Tränensee [The Lake of Tears], 1973
47,5 x 33 x 5,5 cm
artist’s book, letterpress newspaper printing
edition 150
signed, dated, numbered
published by the artist
good condition, although with discoloured cover due to aging
€ 2.200,-

Roth published regularly aphorisms in the Anzeiger Stadt Luzern und Umgebung placed among the paper’s usual advertisements. After a series of lines like ‘Ein Flugzeug its ein bözes Wort’ / “An airplane it is an evil word” , ‘Ausgeweint ist ausgeschlafen’ / “Finished crying is finished sleeping” and ‘Es wird einmal gewesen sein’ / “Once it will be has been”. The newspaper cancelled Roth’s campaign after too many readers complained about the incomprehensible messages that obviously didn’t advertise anything at all. In 1973 Dieter Roth published all his 248 aphorisms in ‘Das Tränenmeer’ (The Sea of Tears).

This artist’s book is also in the collection of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam: Dieter Roth Collection Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.

Aphorism: ‘Die Beweinen, die wollen beweint werden D.R.’

DIETER ROTH, Quick, 1965/1994
20 x 32 x13 mm
mini book, plastic box, folded stencil ca A5, signed, dated: 1965/94
edition 45 + 105
published by Boekie Woekie, Amsterdam 1994                                    
Boekie Woekie, Amsterdam € 220,-   July 2012
Boekie Woekie, Amsterdam € 450,-   September 2013
Collection Kees van Gelder, Amsterdam

Artist book originally published by Rudolf Reiser in 1965 in an edition 150. In 1994 Rudolf Zwirner / Galerie Rudolf Zwirner in Cologne found one day a shoe box in his storage with left-overs of the edition. He asked Walter Koenig / Buchhandlung Walther Koenig if he was interested in these books. The latter contacted the artist who suggested that he could take the shoe box with the books to Boekie Woekie artist’s Bookshop in Amsterdam for a revival of this project started in 1965. Dieter Roth wanted to have a little container for the book, which was supplied by the bookshop. In this way the remaining 105 copies which remained unsold, were re-issued in Amsterdam in 1994, signed and dated ‘1965/94’ by Roth on the front cover, supplied with a wrap-around information sheet (apart from Dutch text, with stenciled handwriting of the artist) in Icelandic, German (recto), English and Dutch (verso); together with a small plastic box.

The artistic practice of Dieter Roth (Swiss, born in Germany, 1930–1998) encompassed everything from painting and sculpture to film and video, but it is arguably through his editioned works—prints, books, and multiples—that he made his most radical contributions. These experiments include the use of organic materials in lieu of traditional mediums, including book-sausages filled with ground paper in place of meat, and multiples of plastic toys mired in melted chocolate, as well as a dazzling array of variations on printed postcards. Here the magazine Quick was cut and used to the smallest book he ever made.