Warja Lavater, Cendrillon (Cinderella), Maeght Editeur, Paris, 1976

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Warja Lavater (1913-2007) was a Swiss graphic designer who, with her designer husband Gottfied Honegger, ran a design studio in Zurich between 1937 to 1958, specialising in designing symbols, logos and trademarks. Lavater also worked as an illustrator for the young person's magazine Jeunesse from 1944-1958. In 1958, the couple moved to New York for three years and she found work designing scientific illustrations for Dell Publishing. 

It was in the USA that Lavater discovered the accordion format during her visits to Chinatown and Lavater would adopt this medium for all her artists' books for the rest of her career. With her non-representational visual vocabulary she was able to create works that could be 'read' by people across linguistic boundaries. Lavater described her books as imageries, and her use of this particular kind of visual language as a way to:

 "...express certain attitudes and actions, not by illustrating, but by writing picture-poems or 'pictograms.' We react to visual signs more effectively than to anything else, and I felt able to write by using such signals as codes, as signs that communicate... each story has its own 'code', signs that are easy to understand and that do not require a particular verbal language." 

Lavater described herself as a Bildstellerin, or "picture writer" and the following quote by Carol Ribi from 100 Years of Swiss Design locates her work at a fascinating intersection between a variety of representational systems: "Warja Lavater's symbol notations and artists' books are situated on the boundaries of graphic design, painting, literature, and object art, and there mark a transition of genres that has yet to be thoroughly explored in picture or art theory."

Cendrillon is a beautiful example of Lavater's use of a signs and symbols to illustrate a story, in this case a version of Cinderalla written by Charles Perrault in 1697. 

Please search for other works by Lavater on this blog.

21 single-sided pages, individually 6.25" x 4" and when unfolded 7ft.

Claire Felicie, Daughters of the Sun, self-published, Netherlands, 2018, ed. 25

              This leporello gives an impression of my visits to Iraqi Kurdistan 

              in 2017-2018 and my encounters with female Peshmerga fighters. 

              In their hands they carry souvenirs of loved ones.       

                                                                             Claire Felicie

Each of this linen-bound leporello's 51 pages are thick boards with one black & white photograph featured in each pairing, these materials also combine to give this leporello some real weight coupled with its sturdy pages. There's almost a sculptural feel to the work which is combined with an intimacy that comes from Felicie's identification with the women, and in particular their roles as Pershmerga (to stand in front of death) fighters in Iraqi Kurdistan in their war against the Islamic State. 

Attached to the back of the leporello is a copy of a handwritten note in which Felicie goes into greater detail about how this book came about and she concludes writing about the female Pershmerga, "They felt like sisters to me. Because these women are first and foremost, like me, mothers, grand mothers. Powerful, resilient, protective. Full of the joy of life while bravely staring death in the face."

Felicie is a Dutch photographer who has done a number of interesting and varied photographic projects and they can been seen here on her website: Claire Felicie Photography | PROJECTS. Follow this link to a smart and in-depth look at this leporello written by Sabrina Mandanici: Claire Felicie, Daughters of the Sun | Collector Daily

51 single-sided pages, 5.75" x 4", when fully opened 17ft.

Club Zukunft, Events Calendar, Zurich, Switzerland, 2023

Here's a rather interesting use of the accordion format serving as an events calendar for upcoming musical events at Club Zukunft. This club is one of the premier experimental electronic music venues in Zurich, and with an attached bar that reportedly has the largest selection of beers in Zurich.

Thanks to Jürgen O. Olbrich of the No-Institute, Kassel, for passing this piece on to me.

5 double-sided pages, individually 3.75" X 6", and when fully open 1ft 10.5".

reverse with more detailed info on individual events

Box 2W/Set Z, 2013, and Box 2W/Set Y, 2012, 10 artists, B.ü.L.b. Comix, Geneva, 2012-13

                                                     Box 2W/Set Z, 2013

B.ü.L.b. is a cool "independent sequential art publishing house" that was founded in 1996 by Nicolas Robel with a DIY aesthetic and a political attitude. These two boxed collections, each containing 5 miniature accordion works by 5 international artists, are part of a larger print project in which a boxed collection was produced for each letter of the alphabet. This is a wonderful way of making available a large number of different artists' works in a unique and affordable format - bravo to B.ü.L.b.!

Other B.ü.L.b. productions, including larger printed editions and books can be viewed at their website: B.ü.Lb comix

Each accordion is 11 pages, double sided. Individual pages 1.75" x 1.25" and when fully open 1ft 1.75". Note: click on images for larger size.

Jockum Norstrom (S)

Yuichi Yokoyama (J)

Elvis Studio (CH)

Blexbolex (F)

Nicholay Baker (T)

_______________________________________________________________

Box 2W/Set Y, 2012

Charles Burns (USA)

It's Raining Elephants (CH)

Xavier Robel (CH)

Aisha Franz (D)

Mat Brinkman (USA)