Kris Ruhs, Untitled Theatre, Richard Green Gallery, New York, 1986, ed. 300

An accordion catalogue with hand-painted elements that echoes and mimics the form of an accordion that Ruhs published in connection with his installation at the Richard Green Gallery. 

After turning the gallery into a theatre for his Performing Characters, Ruhs describes the scene, "...there was a little stage where the audience could act out their own plays with members of the cast like the Accordion Player, the Saxophonist, the Performing Dog, the Tumbling Characters, the Magician and more. These wooden toys were joined at shoulders, waist and knees so that they could perform their intended act when manipulated." [krisruhs.com]

8 pages one-sided, individual pages 10" (t) x 7" (w), when fully open 4' 8".

back cover

Takashi Nemoto, Honeymoon, 2020, ed. 150 and Pakito Bolino, Bolturi, 2011, ed. 200

Two very  sharp silkscreen books by the incomparable Le Dernier Cri based in Marseille. Aside from publishing a number of accordion books (some in this blog) I've found that quite often they're incorporating fold-out pages into their other books, and the two publications featured here personify this technique. And, while I'm not claiming these are accordion books, there is a surprisingly accordion-like effect that happens when you fold out the pages of these books. Just saying!

                                 ________________________

                           Takashi Nemoto, Honeymoon, 2010

    19 pages, double-sided, individual pages 11.75"(t) x 8.75"(w)

front cover

back cover

                                      _________________________

    Pakito Bolino, Bolturi, 2011

21 pages, double-sided, individual pages 8"(t) x 8"(w)

front cover

back cover

Andrea Zhang, A Mere Gesture, 2020

I received this powerful little accordion in the mail recently and below are the contents of the note that accompanied it.

My name is Andrea Zhang and I am an undergraduate senior from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I heard about your accordion publications from my professor, Robert Clarke-Davis. Taken from his advice, I have made an accordion book for you. 

This book is from a project I have been working on called A Mere Gesture. In traditional Chinese medicine, hair is made from the surplus of blood and essence. Therefore, touching and joining hair suggest intimacy and union. I use hair as a symbol to describe the limits and possibilities of human connection across space and time. I've been collecting hair from people around me and scanning them on a flatbed scanner to make photographs.

14 pages, single-sided, individual pages 5" (h) x 2.5" (w), and when fully open 2' 11".

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".