The College Book Art Association (CBAA), Exploring The Artists' Accordion Book: Part 2, December, 2020

FOLD: Artists' Accordion Books,
Villa Terrace Museum, Milwaukee, WI,
March 1 - June 3,  2018

I was recently asked to contribute a text on artists' accordion books to the CBAA's Book Art Theory blog. This is Part 2 and Part 1 is immediately after this post, both posted Dec., 2020.

Here's the link: College Book Art Association - EXPLORING THE ARTIST'S ACCORDION BOOK: PART 2 

The College Book Art Association (CBAA), Exploring The Artists' Accordion Book: Part 1, December, 2020

FOLD: Artists' Accordion Books,
Villa Terrace Museum, Milwaukee, WI,
March 1 - June 3,  2018

I was recently asked to contribute a text on artists' accordion books to the CBAA's Book Art Theory blog. Part 1 is here, and the second Part 2 is coming later this month (Dec.,  2020), enjoy!

Here's the link to their site: College Book Art Association - EXPLORING THE ARTIST'S ACCORDION BOOK: PART 1 // Stephen Perkins

Alexandra Exter, Panorama de la Côte, Flammarion, France, 1938/this edition date na

This accordion was one in a set of three that were designed by Alexandra Exter (1882-1949), a Russian born artist who emigrated to France in 1924 and established her own atelier in Paris. 

A prominent figure in the early Russian avant-garde she had also lived in Paris in the early years of the century where she met many of the avant-garde artists of the time, including the Cubists and Futurists and she took their ideas back to Russia when she returned home. A successful painter during this period she took part in numerous exhibitions across Russia, France and Italy.

Some years later she began working in the theatre creating costumes and stage design and her innovative ideas enlivened the stage scenery of the period.  She would later move into fashion design as well. Alexandra held assorted teaching positions throughout her career,  including Moscow's Higher Artistic-Technical Workshop (VKHUTEMAS) and in Paris after she emigrated she was a professor at Academie d'Art Contemporain, a free art school established by Fernand Leger and Amédée Ozenfant in 1924.

Alexandra was working as a book illustrator for the Flammarion publishing company and I'm assuming this is how she came to pitch the idea for these three panoramic accordions. Commentators on her work speak about discovering elements of her painting style in these illustrations, and that the sense of scale and geography was influenced by her stage designs and their use of space. Either way the illustrative style she used for this work complements the issues involved in displaying a large expanse of seascape and landscape, and with the images and texts on the back giving more detailed information about this coastal geography.

10 pages, double sided, individual pages 9.75" (h) x 9.75" (w), and when fully open 8ft 1.5".

the back of the accordion

back cover

the original set of three panoramas (photo credit: na)

Lothar Meggendorfer, Vor dem Thore (Outside the Gate), Verlag J.F.Schreiber, Germany, 1893/ca 1980

A fun children's accordion by this bestselling children's book author from the turn of the century.  Depicted as one long street scene with all sorts of small and large events taking place, as the reader wanders flâneur-like through this sea of bustling activity. Each page is also accompanied by a short poem at the bottom.

Meggendorfer (1847-1925) was particularly well known for his children's pop-up books in which different parts of the page's illustrations move in unexpected ways, all of which displayed his research and experimentation, and the key role rivets & levers played in creating the movable parts. 

6 pages, single sided, individual page 8.5" (h) x 11.5 (w), and when fully open 7ft. 8".

back cover

Hansjörg Mayer, alphabetenquadrate (alphabet squares), Edition rot #26, Stuttgart, Germany, 1966

Editors: Max Bense and Elizabeth Walter, 
52 issues, 1966-70, Stuttgart, Germany

Edition rot was an artist's periodical that explored the emerging world of concrete poetry and the broader exploration of language and its various experimental forms that were happening during this period. This issue, dedicated to the pioneering work of Hansjörg Mayer is no exception, and the play on the number of this issue, 26, is also a play on the number of letters in the alphabet but it also reflects Mayer's deep concern with language and its presentation on the flat space of the white 'square' page. Active as a poet, typographer and publisher, Mayer also designed and printed Edition rot from 1960 to 1967, as well as editing/publishing his own Futura (1956-68, 26 issues) which explored similar territory and gave each artist the freedom to publish their language works in this poster-sized periodical as they desired.

By the end of the '60s Mayer, after a 1968 retrospective of his work, made the decision to give up creating his own poetry in order to concentrate on his publishing activities. Mayer subsequently worked with a number of experimental artists in this period, a particularly creative partnership was formed with the Icelandic artist Dieter Rot, and they would push all the boundaries in their experiments in bookmaking and publishing. Of his 'poetic' work the respected historian of this genre Stephen Bann had this to say about Mayer's work, "When he (Mayer) accumulates letters on top of one another it is not to represent loss of meaning but to intensify the visual density of his chosen signs. The significance of his work lies in the fact that he used the printed letter quite simply as material." (1967)

15 pages, double-sided, individual pages 5.75" square, and when fully opened 7ft 2.25".

Each issue always has this quote from the Ernst Bloch (1885-1977)
the German Marxist philosopher that reads "there are also red secrets
 in the world, actually, only red".

Pop Up Creators Project, 9 Leporellos, UK, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, 2018

This is a really wonderful project in which 18 children's illustrators and comics artists from across the UK, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were commissioned to work with groups of 16-24 year old visual artists across the same countries and to mentor them in creating their own illustrated leporello story books. As a result 150 young artists created their own books, which were then exhibited in a show titled "Pop Up Creators: An illustration exchange across the UK and Baltic Countries," at the London Book Fair's 'Baltic Countries Market Focus,' May-June, 2018. For more info see: Pop Up

This collaborative project in which young artists are mentored by an experienced professional has echoes of Roger Omar's '6dreams' project which he conceived of in 2002, in which children from assorted countries describe their dreams and an artist/illustrator turns them into accordion books. Follow this link to see some of the awesome books created: 6dreams, editor Roger Omar

Description of all the books: 6 pages, double-sided, individual pages 8" (h) x 5.5" (w), when fully opened 2ft 9".

Alise Gluskova

Diana Jarmakova

Ilze Ance Kazaka

Rebeka Lukosus

Liana Mihailova

Pauls Rietums

Tonijs Strods

Lote Vilma Vitina

Zane Zlemesa

Clifford Hunt, @ Rabia Crossing, Half Moon Bay, CA, 2020

My friend Clifford spent some time living in the Middle East, and like all of us who have spent time there it finds a special place in your heart, and you're never untouched by what happens over there. 

4 pages, double-sided, individual pages 4" (h) x 2" (w), and when fully open 8".