ars libri ltd.
rare and scholarly books
on the fine arts
ars libri ltd.
rare and scholarly books
on the fine arts
Catalogue 130-N: Modern Art: Rarities of the Avant-Garde
163
KASHKEEN, JOHN
New York (An Outline). Planned and compiled by John Kashkeen. Illustrations and maps arranged by F. Tahirof. Supplements: vocabulary and explanatory notes by M. Lorie. 157, (3)pp.; 24, 32pp. (2 loose inserts). Prof. illus. in halftone, with photomontages and other figs. (partly in red and blue). 4to. Dec. wraps., with photomontage cover designs printed in red, white, blue and black. Edition statement of 10,000 copies. Passages in parallel Russian, with Russian-language supplements (inserted). Texts by C. Bercovici, John Dos Passos, Theodore Dreiser, O’Henry, John Reed, Waldo Frank, Michael Gold, and others. A very interesting piece of American-oriented agitprop, with photomontage compositions influenced by Heartfield, as well as Russian Constructivist sources. A little light wear to the covers, generally quite fine. Notwithstanding the edition statement, the work appears to be extremely rare; no copy in OCLC.
Moscow (Co-operative Publishing Society of Foreign Workers in the U.S.S.R.), 1933. $1,500.00
164
DAS KESTNERBUCH
Herausgeber: Dr. Paul Erich Küppers. 158, (2)pp., 12 full-page original prints. Lrg. 4to. Publisher’s marbled boards, 1/4 leather gilt. T.e.g. Vorzugsausgabe: one of 150 numbered copies on fine wove paper, specially bound by hand. Original woodcuts by Erich Heckel ("Männer am Strand," Dube 319iiB), Ernst Barlach ("Barmherziger Samariter," Schult 163), Lyonel Feininger ("Rue St. Jacques," Prasse W46ii), Kurt Schwitters (Untitled, 1919), Eberhard Viegener, and Wilhelm Plünnecke; original lithographs by Paul Klee ("Auslöschendes Licht," Kornfeld 75B), Conrad Felixmüller ("Toter Genosse," Söhn 76B), Richard Seewald ("Wäscherinnen am Lago Maggiore," Jentsch L91), Max Burchartz, Otto Gleichmann and Max Unold. Texts by Thomas Mann, Döblin, Lasker-Schüler, Mombert, Däubler, Felixmüller, Worringer and others. A fine copy of the deluxe edition of this seminal anthology, the yearbook of the Kestner-Gesellschaft in Hannover. Front hinge partly split; slightly bowed.
Hannover (Heinrich Böhme), 1919. $4,000.00
Manet to Hockney 51 ; Söhn 130; Raabe/Hannich-Bode 174.3; Raabe I.139; Perkins 134; Jentsch 53; Rifkind 321; Spalek 525
165
(KIRCHNER) Bosshart, Jacob.
Neben der Heerstrasse. Erzählungen. Mit Holzschnitten von E.L. Kirchner. 434, (6)pp. 24 original woodcuts by Kirchner, integrated with text (Dube 808-831). Sm. stout 4to. Publisher’s salmon-boards, 1/4 red cloth, with woodcut illustration and typography by Kirchner on front cover and spine. A bit faded and worn.
Zürich/Leipzig (Grethlein & Co.), 1923. $850.00
Dube (1980) 808-831; Lang 174; Rifkind/Davis 1478, 1478.1; Rifkind 103; Vom Jugendstil zum Bauhaus 88; Schauer II.119; Jentsch 143
166
(KIRCHNER) Döblin, Alfred
Das Stiftsfräulein und der Tod. Eine Novelle. [Schnitte von E.L. Kirchner.] (Lyrische Flugblätter.) (16)pp. 5 full-page woodcuts by Kirchner, including title on front cover (Dube 199-203). Printed on buff-colored Simili-Japan. Sm. 4to. Orig. self-wraps., secured with string, as issued, with woodcut on front cover. "Alfred Döblin’s story ‘Das Stiftsfräulein und der Tod’ (The Canoness and Death) appeared as part of the same series [‘Lyrische Flugblätter’] in 1913, accompanied by a title woodcut and four full-page woodcuts by Kirchner, who manifested a special sensitivity to the book and modern texts. This was the initial, and highly successful, experiment in book illustration by a representative of the Brücke. Modest yet penetrating, Kirchner’s woodcuts attest to a new unity of typography and illustration, the woodcut being an ideal complement to a forceful typeface. The unity of text and image in the same printing process and the unity of literary and graphic configuration reflected the harmony in the thinking and feeling of poets and painters" (Paul Raabe, in Rifkind 1989). A beautiful copy, fresh and crisp, with fine impressions of the prints.
Berlin-Wilmersdorf (A.R. Meyer), 1913. $6,000.00
Dube 199-203; Rifkind 1989 I.1453.1-5, II.118; Rifkind 1977 no. 85; Lang 171, p. 41; Jentsch 12; Marbach 88.2; Wilpert-Gühring 3; Raabe/Hannich-Bode 58.4; The Artist and the Book 141; Andel 21; Andel Avant-Garde Page Design no. 32; Bareiss 34; Villa Stuck 53; München p. 29
167
KOHL, AAGE VON
Die Hängematte des Riugé. (Sturm-Bücher. 6.) 32pp. Printed wraps. Presentation copy, inscribed by the translator, Nell Walden, to Hans Kleinschmidt, 1967.
Berlin (Verlag Der Sturm), 1915. $250.00
Raabe 147
168
KOKOSCHKA, OSKAR
Der gefesselte Columbus. 12 Lithographien. 12 transfer lithographs (or photolithographs), each signed in pencil by Kokoschka in the margin, within passepartout mats, loose as issued in portfolio. Folio. Publisher’s printed portfolio (boards, 3/4 vellum). A special copy of Ausgabe B, limited to 150 copies on Bütten,with all 12 prints signed in pencil by the artist, though only the first print was supposed to have been signed in this portion of the edition. (Ausgabe A, limited to 50 copies on Japan, was signed throughout, as here.) Anomalously, the second print (WW 44) is here also numbered in pencil, 23/25.
"Although the series print portfolio ‘Der gefesselte Kolumbus [sic] (Columbus Chained) was not published until 1916, Oskar Kokoschka made the twelve drawings (from which the lithographs in the set were executed) in 1913. At the time, the artist was involved in an intense and unhappy relationship with Alma Mahler, the Viennese widow of the composer Gustav Mahler, and the suite represents a universalized account of their tense and conflicted affair, with Kokoschka and his lover representing the archetypal Man and Woman. ‘Columbus Chained’ is a visual narrative of the spiritual redemption of Woman through the martyrdom of Man. Throughout the series, Man appears both heroic and independent at the same time that he is physically bound by his desire to Woman. Woman is Eve, the temptress, but similarly dependent on Man" (Reisenfeld). In an interview in 1966, Kokoschka remarked "‘Columbus Chained’ is me again, of course, and in this sense the title is symbolic--bound by a woman, whose features I have depicted on the title-page. My Columbus ventures out not to discover America, but to recognize a woman who binds him in chains. At the end she appears to him as a love-ghost, moon woman."
A book edition of the work, with text, did not appear until 1920, published in 120 copies and then subsequently reissued in popular reprints. Wingler/Welz, following Arntz, give the date of the present version as 1918, though the portfolio itself still carries the date 1916 (from Augsgabe A) on the front cover. WW 48 slightly creased at left; WW 53 with very pale foxing in one portion; WW 47 signed upside-down; a little very pale foxing on a few mounts; backstrip of portfolio slightly worn; in general, a very fine, clean copy, remarkable in being signed throughout.
Berlin (Fritz Gurlitt), 1916 [1918]. $12,000.00
Wingler/Welz 43-54; Lang 190; Reisenfeld, Robin: The German Print Portfolio, 1890-1930 (Chicago, 1992), p. 50ff.
169
KOKOSCHKA, OSKAR
Zwanzig Zeichnungen. Title, table, and 20 plates of line-drawings, all printed on heavy tan stock. Folio. Portfolio (boards, 1/4 vellum). Contents loose, as issued. The plates include portraits of Adolf Loos, Herwarth Walden, Paul Scheerbart, and Yvette Guilbert, and selected drawings from "Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen" (published by Der Sturm), among other subjects. Presentation copy, boldly inscribed in charcoal across the title-page to Lajos Tihany, "Lieber Tihanny/ Es ist schön, dass sie mir damals gerne...haben. Um so bessere Freunde sind wir deswegen heute./ Oskar Kokoschka/ Paris 7.31." Tihanyi (1885-1938), an important figure in the Hungarian avant-garde of the teens and twenties, in the circle of Kassák and the review "MA," moved to Paris in 1923, where he remained until his death. Portraiture was his major enterprise, in a style quite reminiscent, in fact, of Kokoschka. Portfolio somewhat bit worn; light creasing at the edges of the title-page and plates. Rare.
Berlin (Der Sturm), [1913]. $1,500.00
Spalek 3330
170
KRATER UND WOLKE
Herausgeber: Ralf Winkler [i.e. A.R. Penck]. Nos. 1-7, June 1982 - 1990. (206), (206), (206), (192), (202), (250), (228)pp. Prof. illus. throughout with halftone photographs, drawn elements, etc., on various paper stocks, and with 27 original prints hors texte (many in color), by Georg Baselitz, Jörg Immendorff, Markus Lüpertz, Per Kirkeby, A.R. Penck, et al. 3 45-rpm recordings loosely inserted, as issued, in mounted paper sleeves in nos. 1-3; halftone poster in no. 7. Lrg. 4to. Dec. wraps. Glassine d.j. Publisher’s cartons. Issue no. 1 is dedicated to Georg Baselitz, no. 2 to Jörg Immendorff, no. 3 to Markus Lüpertz, no. 4 to Per Kirkeby, no. 5 to James Lee Byars, no. 6 to "USA + Europa" and no. 7 again to Georg Baselitz. The complement of original prints in the includes numerous double-page and large folding images (some as large as 105 x 72 cm.), among them etchings, linocuts and lithographs in colors. Perfect condition.
Köln (Galerie Michael Werner), 1982-1990. $4,000.00
171
KRUCHENYKH, A.
Razboinik Van’ka-Kain i Son’ka-Manikiurshchitsa. Ugolnovnyi roman. [The Bandit Vanka "Cain" and Sonya the Manicurist. A criminal novel]. Risunki Marii Siniakovoi. Vstupitel’nye zamechaniia Borisa Nesmelova. 27, (3)pp. 6 lithographic plates (5 full-page). Sm. 4to. Dec. wraps. Edition limited to 1000 copies. The title-page dated 1925, the front cover 1926. This is the first appearance of Maria Siniakova’s remarkable freewheeling and rather funny illustrations, later to reappear in the 1927 "Chetyre Foneticheskikh Romana [Four Phonetic Novels]." Backstrip neatly taped, not affecting cover image; extremities of wrappers slightly chipped; pencilled inscription on title-page; a clean copy.
Moskva (Izdanie Vserossiiskogo Soiuza Poetov), 1925/1926. $1,400.00
MOMA 620; Getty 378; Compton 1917-34 p. 20f. (illus.)