The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
John Baldessari
1988
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
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Few conceptual artists possess the wit and playful edge to respond with such irony to Laurence Sterne's celebrated novel, whose episodic structure and playful reflexivity remain among the most significant achievements of eighteenth-century literature. The ...
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The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
John Baldessari
1988
San Francisco: Arion Press
742 pages
27.5 × 19.2 × 11 cm, slipcase consisting of 3 volumes
Edition of 400; signed

Few conceptual artists possess the wit and playful edge to respond with such irony to Laurence Sterne's celebrated novel, whose episodic structure and playful reflexivity remain among the most significant achievements of eighteenth-century literature. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman was originally published between 1759 and 1767 in nine volumes. In 1988, John Baldessari was invited by Andrew Hoyem of the Arion Press, San Francisco, to contribute to a new deluxe edition of Sterne's masterpiece. Baldessari responded with a contemporary visual intervention: a sequence of deliberately disjointed photocollages that mirrors Sterne's playful disregard for linear narrative, conventional punctuation, and literary decorum.


 


The three-volume set comprises a facsimile of Sterne's original text, sophisticatedly bound; a smaller tome consisting of a critical essay by the Sterne scholar Melvyn New; and an accordion-fold artist's book of Baldessari's photocollages, interspersed with Shandean aphorisms. Among the most memorable are his iconic dot portraits, placed in dialogue with a celebrated passage from Book III, Chapter XII (p. 173):


 


"—And did you step in, to take a look at the grand picture, in your way back?——'Tis a melancholy daub! my Lord; not one principle of the pyramid in any one group!——and what a price!——for there is nothing of the colouring of Titian,——the expression of Rubens,—the grace of Raphael,——the purity of Dominichino,—the corregiescity of Corregio,—the learning of Poussin,—the airs of Guido,—the taste of the Carrachi's,—or the grand contour of Angelo.——Grant me patience, just heaven!——Of all the cants which are canted in this canting world,——though the cant of hypocrites may be the worst,—the cant of criticism is the most tormenting!”


 


A witty visual rediscovery of Laurence Sterne's caustic satire, Baldessari's contribution demonstrates how the novel's experimental spirit continues to resonate more than two centuries after its first publication.

San Francisco: Arion Press
742 pages
27.5 × 19.2 × 11 cm, slipcase consisting of 3 volumes
Edition of 400; signed

Few conceptual artists possess the wit and playful edge to respond with such irony to Laurence Sterne's celebrated novel, whose episodic structure and playful reflexivity remain among the most significant achievements of eighteenth-century literature. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman was originally published between 1759 and 1767 in nine volumes. In 1988, John Baldessari was invited by Andrew Hoyem of the Arion Press, San Francisco, to contribute to a new deluxe edition of Sterne's masterpiece. Baldessari responded with a contemporary visual intervention: a sequence of deliberately disjointed photocollages that mirrors Sterne's playful disregard for linear narrative, conventional punctuation, and literary decorum.

 

The three-volume set comprises a facsimile of Sterne's original text, sophisticatedly bound; a smaller tome consisting of a critical essay by the Sterne scholar Melvyn New; and an accordion-fold artist's book of Baldessari's photocollages, interspersed with Shandean aphorisms. Among the most memorable are his iconic dot portraits, placed in dialogue with a celebrated passage from Book III, Chapter XII (p. 173):

 

"—And did you step in, to take a look at the grand picture, in your way back?——'Tis a melancholy daub! my Lord; not one principle of the pyramid in any one group!——and what a price!——for there is nothing of the colouring of Titian,——the expression of Rubens,—the grace of Raphael,——the purity of Dominichino,—the corregiescity of Corregio,—the learning of Poussin,—the airs of Guido,—the taste of the Carrachi's,—or the grand contour of Angelo.——Grant me patience, just heaven!——Of all the cants which are canted in this canting world,——though the cant of hypocrites may be the worst,—the cant of criticism is the most tormenting!”

 

A witty visual rediscovery of Laurence Sterne's caustic satire, Baldessari's contribution demonstrates how the novel's experimental spirit continues to resonate more than two centuries after its first publication.

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Few conceptual artists possess the wit and playful edge to respond with such irony to Laurence Sterne's celebrated novel, whose episodic structure and playful reflexivity remain among the most significant achievements of eighteenth-century literature. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman was originally published between 1759 and 1767 in nine volumes. In 1988, John Baldessari was invited by Andrew Hoyem of the Arion Press, San Francisco, to contribute to a new deluxe edition of Sterne's masterpiece. Baldessari responded with a contemporary visual intervention: a sequence of deliberately disjointed photocollages that mirrors Sterne's playful disregard for linear narrative, conventional punctuation, and literary decorum.

 

The three-volume set comprises a facsimile of Sterne's original text, sophisticatedly bound; a smaller tome consisting of a critical essay by the Sterne scholar Melvyn New; and an accordion-fold artist's book of Baldessari's photocollages, interspersed with Shandean aphorisms. Among the most memorable are his iconic dot portraits, placed in dialogue with a celebrated passage from Book III, Chapter XII (p. 173):

 

"—And did you step in, to take a look at the grand picture, in your way back?——'Tis a melancholy daub! my Lord; not one principle of the pyramid in any one group!——and what a price!——for there is nothing of the colouring of Titian,——the expression of Rubens,—the grace of Raphael,——the purity of Dominichino,—the corregiescity of Corregio,—the learning of Poussin,—the airs of Guido,—the taste of the Carrachi's,—or the grand contour of Angelo.——Grant me patience, just heaven!——Of all the cants which are canted in this canting world,——though the cant of hypocrites may be the worst,—the cant of criticism is the most tormenting!”

 

A witty visual rediscovery of Laurence Sterne's caustic satire, Baldessari's contribution demonstrates how the novel's experimental spirit continues to resonate more than two centuries after its first publication.

San Francisco: Arion Press
742 pages
27.5 × 19.2 × 11 cm, slipcase consisting of 3 volumes
Edition of 400; signed

Few conceptual artists possess the wit and playful edge to respond with such irony to Laurence Sterne's celebrated novel, whose episodic structure and playful reflexivity remain among the most significant achievements of eighteenth-century literature. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman was originally published between 1759 and 1767 in nine volumes. In 1988, John Baldessari was invited by Andrew Hoyem of the Arion Press, San Francisco, to contribute to a new deluxe edition of Sterne's masterpiece. Baldessari responded with a contemporary visual intervention: a sequence of deliberately disjointed photocollages that mirrors Sterne's playful disregard for linear narrative, conventional punctuation, and literary decorum.

 

The three-volume set comprises a facsimile of Sterne's original text, sophisticatedly bound; a smaller tome consisting of a critical essay by the Sterne scholar Melvyn New; and an accordion-fold artist's book of Baldessari's photocollages, interspersed with Shandean aphorisms. Among the most memorable are his iconic dot portraits, placed in dialogue with a celebrated passage from Book III, Chapter XII (p. 173):

 

"—And did you step in, to take a look at the grand picture, in your way back?——'Tis a melancholy daub! my Lord; not one principle of the pyramid in any one group!——and what a price!——for there is nothing of the colouring of Titian,——the expression of Rubens,—the grace of Raphael,——the purity of Dominichino,—the corregiescity of Corregio,—the learning of Poussin,—the airs of Guido,—the taste of the Carrachi's,—or the grand contour of Angelo.——Grant me patience, just heaven!——Of all the cants which are canted in this canting world,——though the cant of hypocrites may be the worst,—the cant of criticism is the most tormenting!”

 

A witty visual rediscovery of Laurence Sterne's caustic satire, Baldessari's contribution demonstrates how the novel's experimental spirit continues to resonate more than two centuries after its first publication.

MORE BOOKS

Few conceptual artists possess the wit and playful edge to respond with such irony to Laurence Sterne's celebrated novel, whose episodic structure and playful reflexivity remain among the most significant achievements of eighteenth-century literature. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman was originally published between 1759 and 1767 in nine volumes. In 1988, John Baldessari was invited by Andrew Hoyem of the Arion Press, San Francisco, to contribute to a new deluxe edition of Sterne's masterpiece. Baldessari responded with a contemporary visual intervention: a sequence of deliberately disjointed photocollages that mirrors Sterne's playful disregard for linear narrative, conventional punctuation, and literary decorum.

 

The three-volume set comprises a facsimile of Sterne's original text, sophisticatedly bound; a smaller tome consisting of a critical essay by the Sterne scholar Melvyn New; and an accordion-fold artist's book of Baldessari's photocollages, interspersed with Shandean aphorisms. Among the most memorable are his iconic dot portraits, placed in dialogue with a celebrated passage from Book III, Chapter XII (p. 173):

 

"—And did you step in, to take a look at the grand picture, in your way back?——'Tis a melancholy daub! my Lord; not one principle of the pyramid in any one group!——and what a price!——for there is nothing of the colouring of Titian,——the expression of Rubens,—the grace of Raphael,——the purity of Dominichino,—the corregiescity of Corregio,—the learning of Poussin,—the airs of Guido,—the taste of the Carrachi's,—or the grand contour of Angelo.——Grant me patience, just heaven!——Of all the cants which are canted in this canting world,——though the cant of hypocrites may be the worst,—the cant of criticism is the most tormenting!”

 

A witty visual rediscovery of Laurence Sterne's caustic satire, Baldessari's contribution demonstrates how the novel's experimental spirit continues to resonate more than two centuries after its first publication.

MORE BOOKS