Jasper Johns and Samuel Beckett – Foirades & Fizzles
London / New York. Petersburg Press Ltd. 1975 - 1976. Leaf with French title, leaf with English title and Beckett's printed text 'Foirades' in French and 'Fizzles' in English illustrated with 33 original etchings (2 etchings printed in colour as endpapers) and 2 colour lithographs for the inside lining of the portfolio by Jasper Johns, leaf with justification and final leaf with colophon, text and plates on doubled leaves of handmade paper watermarked with the initials of Beckett and the signature of Johns. Original publisher's wrappers, loose in grey linen drop-back book box with purple tassle, the interior lined with two colour lithographs.
An excellent copy of the much celebrated result of the collaboration of Samuel Beckett and Jasper Johns.
From the edition limited to 250 copies on Richard de Bas handmade paper, signed by the artist and the author in pencil.
This book contains five texts by Samuel Beckett and thirty-three etchings by Jasper Johns. The French texts first appeared in 1972; the English texts were written by Samuel Beckett in 1974 for this collection.
Two of the most enigmatic artists of our time, Samuel Beckett and Jasper Johns, collaborated on this complex yet elegant artist’s book. Originally written in French between 1960 and 1972, the brooding essays were rewritten in English by Beckett for this project.
Nevertheless, Johns decided to include both texts that expanded his contribution to thirty-three etchings and aquatints plus colour lithograph endpapers. John’s imagery is based on a major four-panel painting, Untitled (1972), along with his classic imagery related to numbers and body parts. This cerebral volume that provokes more questions than it answers is considered one of the greatest artists’ books of the second half of the twentieth century.
Copies of 'Foirades / Fizzles' often feature pronounced offsetting from the ink used for the etchings created by Johns to illustrate the text; this copy is an excellent one and features almost no trace of the offsetting from the plates to the adjacent leaves.
Medium: Offsetting from the ink used for the etchings
Date: 1975 – 1976
Dimensions: 334 x 256 mm
Sign: Hand-signed
