Pierre Marty, HH, Le Dernier Cri, Marseille, 2009, ed. 2000

front cover

This 10 color silkscreen book with its multi-flap folded pages, is not technically an accordion, but when the pages are opened up some of the same effects can be seen and experienced as when viewing a traditional accordion. At the heart of the accordion book lies the 'fold,' and Marty's book playfully exploits all the surprises and unexpected encounters that happen when this feature is incorporated into the making of a book.

On his blog, Marty describes how he "...draws in different forms, produces comic strips, practices publishing on a very small scale...compulsively superimposes blacks, whites, day and sometimes colors, forming dreamlike universes that echo reality. Often wind, intestinal breaths on plants, organic or abstract shapes like ideograms, amoebas on the cornea, hair on the tongue, shivers, spasms haunt or invade his images and his narrations. The comic strips he produces do not tell a story as such, they contain little or no text, drawings follow one another in an articulated way, forming a narrative, poetic and plastic grammar."  [°)°)°)°)°)°)°)°)°)°)°))) Pierre Marty]

Another wonderfully edgy book from Le Dernier Cri!

18 double-sided pages, individually 8.25" x 6".

back cover

front and back covers opened up

Eadweard Muybridge & Mark Klett, One City/Two Visions, Bedford Arts Publishers, San Francisco, 1990

A smart accordion that combines two panoramic views of San Francisco, with Eadweard Muybridge's (1830-1904) made in 1878 and Mark Kletts' created in 1990.

The accordion format is ideally suited to reproducing panoramic images and this book provides a prime example, even though Klett was unable to make his work in one shot because of the development of the city, and his solution was to stitch together single images to create his panorama.  However, both works were shot from the same location, the Mark Hopkins Inter-Continental Hotel on California Street.

Peter Bacon Hales provides a nuanced introduction to the technical issues and the larger history and development of San Francisco, and Mark Klett offers a text that describes his process and solutions to the issues that surfaced for him in creating a panorama of the city in this contemporaneous moment.

14 double-sided pages, individual pages 12" x 9", and when fully open 10ft 6".

Muybridge's (1878) panorama

Mark Klett's (1990) panorama

Warja Lavatar, La Belle au Bois Dormant (The Sleeping Beauty), Adrien Maeght, Paris, 1982

accordion with plexi slip cover

Another wonderful accordion by the Swiss designer, Warja Lavatar (1913-2007). See this entry for more info about Lavatar: accordion publications: Warja Lavater, Little Red Riding Hood (1965/1971), Snow White (1974), and OURASIMA (1991)  

40 single-sided pages, individual pages 6.25" x 4.25", when unfolded 7ft 6"

One-Sun (Mehdi Matin), Anti-Camera Amsterdam, Uranian Press, 2014

A curious little accordion that contains a number of One-Sun's mixed media works on canvas, in which he reworks photographs of Amsterdam buildings with his painterly interventions on the photograph. 

One-Sun is the current director of the Phalanstery, a protege of Mm. Read, painter, sculptor, printmaker, eco-builder, publisher of the new Uranian Press, martial artist and gardener.  For further information about the Phalanstery and its publishing activities, its founder Richard O. Tyler (1926-1983) and his work — keyword search "Phalanstery" on this blog.

6 pages double-sided, individual pages 5" x 3", and when fully open 1ft 6".

reverse side

back cover

Ellie Lobovits, Night Flowers, 2022

A rather interesting work by this artist based in Brooklyn. On her website she describes herself as a "visual artist, writer, and midwife-in-training. Ellie's practice spans diverse media, including photography, film, collage and text. Self-portraiture, imagery of the natural world, and first-person narratives are recurring elements in her exploration of the intersections of feminist identity, the body, land, loss, and memory. Interweaving autobiographical elements with current socio-cultural issues, she explores what occurs in the space of juxtaposition between the so-called private and public spheres." Check out her website at: about — Ellie Lobovits

6 double-sided pages, individually 7" x 5.75", and when fully open 2ft 9.5".

reverse side

R. Clarke-Davis, Untitled, 2022

Another accordion/puzzle book from R. Clarke-Davis (search for others on this blog). I'm not quite sure of the date of the photos here, but they would seem to depict the run-up to the Brasilian election of 2018, which Jair Bolsonaro won. The photos depict the campaign posters of the various candidates displayed in an assortment of locations.

14 pages double-sided, individual pages 4.25" x 5.5", and when fully open 6ft 5".

Hiroshige (1797-1858), A Shoal of Fishes, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1980

An accordion comprised of reproductions of 20 different prints of fish, accompanied by a section with information about each print, as well as a poem associated with each fish.

The reproductions are fine and obviously the prints are wonderful examples of this well known artists' works. The only problem for me with this "accordion" is that it does not behave like a traditional accordion! 

The works are comprised of one page prints that have then been folded in half, and then each edge of the sheet is glued to the one that follows it. Which all results in a binding at each side of the print that does not open up fully, as it would have if it had been a long continuous folded sheet. To force the "accordion" open would be to endanger the whole work, as the binding would probably break.  As a result, the only safe way to experience this book is as a traditional book, two pages at a time, all of which rather defeats the whole point of printing the book in the accordion format!

56 single-sided pages, individually 10.5" x 7.5", and when fully open 35 feet.

accordion with slip cover