BEN VAUTIER, Mensonges [tr. lies], ca 1962 – 1963
21,4 x 16,5 cm
ink stamp and stencil print on paper
published by the artist
inv.BVau 1013
This is a list of works with dates of creation, apparently meant as lies. The title of the works refer to an exhibition that took place in Vautier’s Fluxus shop ‘La cédille qui sourit’ in Nice, France.
KEN FRIEDMAN, This is really it! This is really it! This is?, ca 1962-1968
27,9 x 21,6 cm / 19,7 x 15,3 cm
prints on paper, folded as issued, petrified rubber band
3 parts from unknown source
inv.KFrie 1012
This is an unknown publication, probably connected to one of the “Fourre-Tout” publications produced by Ben Vautier in the sixties. An edition of 101 copies composed of two parts, i.e. a bocal and an envelope with artist’s contributions. For sale at Ben Vautier’s Fluxus shop ‘La Çedille qui rit’ in Nice, France. The theme of this issue “Fourre-Tout” (tr. mishmash) was apparently about “Realism”, although this is not explicitly outspoken in the accompanying text by ben Vautier.
BEN VAUTIER, Crisis and Nervous Depression, ca 1962-1963
11,4 x 10,1 cm / 4.6 x 3.9 inches
Fluxus announcement of event (to be filled in), black letterpress on thin paper
edition unknown
published by Total Art Gallery, Nice, France
condition: aged
rare
€ 385,- plus € 18,- Track & Trace registered mail
inv.BVau 1014
This statement of Ben Vautier is printed on very thin paper and a good example of his self-mockery he so often showed in his works: Ben, is so much of a true failure and a shabby fool, crying to be great, that he has had enough of it all.
A copy of this item is in the collection of the Walker Art Center in New York, USA and in the collection of Fondazione Bonotto, Colceresa, Italy.
YVES KLEIN, Dimanche 27 November – Le journal d’un seul jour, 1960
55,5 x 38 cm
letterpress on news print paper, 4 pages
edition unknown
For the “Festival d’Art d’Avant-garde” Yves Klein had his work “Leap Into the Void” for the first printed in his single day newspaper Dimanche, which was sold at newstands throughout Paris on Sunday the 27th of November 1960, and often appeared side by side with the real French newspaper Le journal du Dimanche. On the same day Klein held a press conference at the Galerie Rive Driote at 11 am, to announce the project. The four page broadside featured visual works and writings by Klein, including the manifesto Theatre of the Void.
The artist wrote (in French) the following text as introduction of his newspaper:
ACTUALITÉ
As part of the theatrical presentations of the Festival of Avant-garde Art in November-December 1960, I have decided to present the ultimate form of collective theater: a dimanche for everybody. I did not wish to limit myself to an afternoon or evening performance.
On dimanche, 27 November 1960, from midnight to midnight, I thus present a full day of festival, a true spectacle of the Void, as a culminating point of my theories. However, any other day of the week could have been used.
I wish that on this day joy and wonder will reign, that no one will get stage fright, and that everyone, conscious as well as unconscious actors-spectators of this gigantesque presentation, should have a good day.
That everyone will come and go, move about, or remain still.
Everything I write in this diary today precedes the presentation of this historic day for the theater. The theater should be or at least rapidly attempt to become the pleasure of being, of living, of spending wondrous moments, and with each passing day of better understanding the beauty of each moment. Everything I write in this dairy represents my own steps towards this glorious day of realism and truth: the field of operations of my proposed conception of theater is not only the city, Paris, but also the countryside, the desert, the mountains, even the sky, and even the entire universe. Why not? I know that everything inevitably is going to work out very well for everyone, spectators, actors, stagehands, directors, et. al..
I would like to thank Mr. Jacques Polieri, the director of the Avant-garde Festival, for his enthusiasm and for proposing to me that I present this “dimanche, November 27.”
Yves Klein
YVES KLEIN, reprint of front page on poster with blue text, 1991
56 x 38 cm
offset print on newspaper
published on the occasion of the exhibition “Yves Klein 1928-1962” at The Archives by The Archives, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
This poster pictures the cover of the 1960 Yves Klein newspaper “Dimanche”, distributed by Yves Klein on November 27, 1960.
MAN RAY, Tonsure (Marcel Duchamp), 1984
15 x 10 cm / 4″ x 6″
postcard, cream coloured
edition unknown
published by Fotofolio, New York, USA, 1984
€ 145,- + € 8,- Track & Trace registered EU mail
inv.MRay 146-pr
Throughout his career Marcel Duchamp recasted accepted modes for assembling and describing identity. In 1917, having recently arrived in the United States, Duchamp found special significance in a mechanically produced photo-postcard that depicted him simultaneously from five different vantage points, thanks to a hinged mirror: ‘Five-Way Portrait of Marcel Duchamp’.
In 1921 Duchamp famously pictured himself as Rrose Sélavy (Eros c’est la vie: a pun translating to “Eros is life,” when pronounced aloud in French). He would associate himself with this female persona throughout the remainder of his career. At the same time, he posed for well-known photographs in which he sported an unconventional tonsure emblazoned with a star. This photo was taken in 1921. Soon thereafter, he used mugshots to cast himself as a criminal of many aliases wanted for running an illegal gambling operation.
‘Portrait multiple de Marcel Duchamp’, 1917
gelatin silver print
photographer unknown
Another example of a staged portrait of Marcel Duchamp photographed by Man Ray and used for a Monte Carlo bond:
Marcel Duchamp, Monte Carlo Bond ‘Obligation de Cinq Cents Francs’, 1924
collage of colour lithograph with photograph by Man Ray of Marcel Duchamp’s soap-covered head
Photo courtesy The Museum of Modern Art, New York