["LANDMARK PUBLICATION" OF FLUXUS ? ARTIST'S BOOK]. Ben Dieu ? Art total sa revue [Ben God ? Art total its journal]. [Anthology of collages, editions, texts and multiples from the years 1962?1963]

Vautier, Ben

About this Item

Nice: Centre d'Art Total, 1963. Quarto (31.4 ? 22.5 cm). Original printed wrappers consisting of two sections; 52 individual leaves with collages, multiples, hectographs on different types of paper. Due to age and material some glue is partially loose; else very good or perfectly preserved. First edition of the exceptionally uncommon artist's book, the second edition of which is also very rare. Because of its rarity, it is not listed in Jon Hendrick's "Fluxus Codex", but is mentioned in the foreword as a "landmark publication" of the Fluxus movement (p. 22). With ?Ben Dieu?, Vautier documents his early Fluxus works on paper. He first met his Fluxus mentor George Maciunas in 1962 in London at the ?Misfits Fair? organized by Daniel Spoerri. Vautier took part in the event, as did Robert Filliou, for example. Maciunas was passing through and a conversation ensued between the two, which ultimately led Vautier to start Fluxus in Nice under the label ?Total Art? (Cf. Ben Vautier, in: 1962 Wiesbaden Fluxus 1982, Wiesbaden, Kassel, Berlin 1983, p. 148ff.) A lively exchange and close collaboration developed between the two. The catalog of the Sohm Archive states that Vautier was the only artist among all Europeans whom Maciunas liked to supervise extensively in the production of his artist's books. (Thomas Klein, "Fr?hliche Wissenschaft". Das Archiv Sohm, Stuttgart 1986, p 99.) Vautier seems not only to have sent the artist's books individually to colleagues, friends, collectors, and critics, but also compiled them individually. Thus the copies known to us repeatedly reveal differences. A detailed documentation of all pages and supplements of the artist's book can be viewed on the website of the Fondazione Bonotto under the following link: fondazionebonotto. org/it/collection/fluxus/vautierben/2158.h tml (as of January 2025) The copy offered by us differs in the following points: The following leaves are not in our copy: "Absolument n'importe quoi est art" ? 2 leaves of "Partie du Tout a Ben" ? "Jalousie". In comparison to the copy owned by the Fondazione Bonotto, the copy we are offering has the following additional leaves and multiples: Poster ?France Dimanche. L'illustre de Paris. Les enfants de Jos?phine Baker a L'assistance??, signed by Ben. ? Sticker in the shape of a blue circle ?15 compositions? Only 100 copies were produced. Sohm, Happening & Fluxus Materialien, Vautier. Cf. Fondazione Bonotto, Code FX1263. As of January 2025, OCLC lists only three copies of the first edition in North America.

Seller Inventory # 54842

Bibliographic Details

• Title: ["LANDMARK PUBLICATION" OF FLUXUS ? ARTIST'S BOOK]. Ben Dieu ? Art total sa revue [Ben God ? Art total its journal]. [Anthology of collages, editions, texts and multiples from the years 1962?1963]
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Contemporary Art
  • Art
  • Modern Art
  • Book Arts and Design