COLLECTION OF THE EARLIEST FLUXUS BOOK PUBLICATIONS + TRACTS

A COLLECTION OF THE EARLIEST FLUXUS /CONCEPTUAL BOOK PUBLICATIONS BY BEN VAUTIER ALONG WITH SEVERAL EARLY PERFORMANCE/EVENT PIECES IN PAGE/LEAFLET FORM AS WELL AS THREE ITEMS BY GUINOCHET A MEMBER OF THE FLUXUS GROUPE DE NICE - INCLUDES A PART RUN OF BEN VAUTIER'S FIRST AND VERY RARE JOURNAL "TOUT"

The collection consists of the following 22 items, most are very rare.

Ben
SCULPTURE / THEATRE/CINEMA/MUSIQUE
Nice: s.p. (the artist), 1963
21 x 17cm, 28pp plus covers. Rivet-bound. Comprising Ben's performances and scores in the three named fields. The original wrappers consist of various cut down wallpapers used by Ben to wrap around the internal offset printed pages. One tipped-on offset photograph (itself cut from a Ben printed publication). Very good condition. Very rare.


Vautier, Ben
COMPOSITION MUSICALE POUR UNE FEUILLE DE PAPIER
Nice: s.p. (Ben), n.d. (1963)
31 x 21cm, 1pp, mimeographed black on white with an event text by Ben. "1er mouvement: regardez/ 2em mouvement: dechirez/3em mouvement: froissez/4em mouvement: jetez/em mouvement: ne l'oubliez pas"  Scarce. The sheet is worn at edges, with one closed tear and a previous fold line.



Vautier, Ben
BEN. LE RAISON D'ATRE DES TOILES ECRITES DE BEN….
Nice: s.p. (Ben), Juillet 1963
21 x 15cm, 1pp, mimeographed black on white with a short text by Ben. Very good and quite scarce.


Ben
J'AIME ET J'ATTAQUE Nr. 2
Nice: s.p. (Ben), n.d. (c. 1963)
27 x 21cm, 5 sheets of mimeographed paper (different colours - green, yellow and white) with texts by Ben. A solitary number of this decidedly home made Fluxus revue that Ben sent out to correspondents throughout the 60s (10 = all). Ben here applauds the work of the lettersets Maurice Lemaître and Isidore Isou but is much harsher on Martial Raysse, Marcel Duchamp and others. Very good and quite scarce.


Ben
POEME
Nice: s.p. (Ben), 1963
21 x 14cm, 1pp, mimeographed black on white each with a poem by Ben: "DITES N'IMPORTE QUOI". Very good and quite scarce.


Ben
TOUT Nr 7
Nice: s.p. (the artist), Aout, 1964
21 x 17cm, 68pp plus covers.  Rivet- bound. During the early days of Fluxus, Ben published a series of these hand made books as part of the Fluxus  Groupe de Nice under the title TOUT. Internally the pages are a mixture of offset printing, mimeograph and collaged pages with various documents and conceptual scores tipped onto the page. One of only 250 copies produced of which Ben notes 100 were released in Paris, 100 in New York and 50 in Nice. Very good condition apart from some rippling from damp in the past apparent to cover and a few first pages. Very rare.


Ben
TOUT Nr 9 (ESTHETIQUE)
Nice: s.p. (the artist), Aout ,1965
21 x 17cm, 16pp plus covers. Rivet-bound.  Number 9 of the review TOUT reproduces Vautier's essay on aesthetics and a lengthy consideration of his Fluxus colleagues including Ray Johnson (here Jonhson - sic), Brecht and Maciunas. One of only 250 copies produced. Very good condition apart from minor fading along spine of the wrappers. The numbering on the cover is in Ben's own hand. Very rare.


Laid in to TOUT Nr 9 -
AVIS
29.7 x 21cm, 1pp mimeographed announcement leaflet declaring future issues of Tout and confirming the small limitation of only 250 copies printed and noting the format of TOUT was designed to be kept in a "classic schoolbook binding" (our trans). Folded as issued but fine.



Ben
TOUT Nr 10 (THEATRE)
Nice: s.p. (the artist), Aout ,1965
21 x 17cm, 16pp plus covers. Rivet-bound.  Number 10 of the review TOUT reproduces Vautier's essay on Vautier's activities and theories of the theatre. One of only 250 copies produced. Very good condition apart from some minor marking to the wrappers. The numbering on the cover is in Ben's own hand. Very rare.



Ben (and Filliou, Robert)
L'ART C'EST LES AUTRES
Nice: s.p. (the artist), Aout ,1966
21 x 17cm, 16pp plus covers. Bound by a single staple top left. The cover title is created by rubber stamped impression. Another very early production that also includes a contribution by Robert Filliou. Mostly replicates the conceptual event score and documentation for an event TABLE which took place in March 1966. One of only circa 250 copies produced. Very good condition apart from the staple being quite rusty although whole and some other rust marks on the front page. Very rare.



Ben
LE THEATRE TOTAL IDENTITIES ET LUXUS PRESENTENT LE 12 MARS 1966 A 21 HEURS A L'ARTISTIQUE ... ... LA TABLE UN EVENEMENT HAPPENING
Nice: S.p. (Ben), 1967
8 x 10.5 cm, 1pp blue/w announcement card  for the La Table event/happening.  Ben notes on the card: "We hope that by the end of the performance your conception of theatre will forever be changed" (Our trans.). Fine.



Ben
LE THEATRE TOTAL IDENTITIES ET LUXUS PRESENTENT LE 12 MARS 1966 A 21 HEURS A L'ARTISTIQUE ... ... LA TABLE UN EVENEMENT HAPPENING
Nice: S.p. (Ben), 1967
10 x 14 cm, 1pp b/w announcement leaflet  for a Fluxus event/happening: "PERSONNE". Fine.



Ben and Robert Filliou
LA CEDILLE QUI SOURIT
Villefranche-sur-mer: la cedille qui sourit (the artists), 196V (sic) (1965)
21 x 17cm, 14pp self-covered. Pin bound. A very early production that also includes one of the first printings (and, possibly, the first occurance) of Robert Filliou's "Longe poeme court a terminer chez soi de Robert Filliou". The rest of the publication is wholly Ben ‹the hand made aspect of this publication is reinforced by the inclusion of a doubled up last page ("Art"/Ben") where the hand-collation went wrong. One of only very few copies produced - probably one of 250. Very good condition. The cover is printed using rubber stamp impression. Very rare.


Ben
MESDAMES ET MESSIEURS
Nice: s.p. (the artist), 1965
20 x 16cm, 1pp - event text/score instructing the reader that she or he is part of the event as soon as they become aware of the text they are reading. All their reactions (it notes) from that point on are part of the event. The duration of the event is revealed to be two hours (with a hand written correction by Ben from 1 hour). Fine. Scarce event score.


Ben (Vautier)
OPEN-FLUXUS-ART TOTAL
Exposition a Nice, Galerie des Ponchettes, decembre 1967 - fevrier 1968.
Nice, Galerie des Ponchettes, 1968.
21 x 14.5cm 1pp, b/w invitation leaflet to the artist's exhibition at the 'Hall des remises en question' in Nice during the local festival. The invitation is however an event score since the audience is invited to bring with them an "idea, a declaration, a critique, an object, a cat, a cry, a young girl, a poem, an objection, a pattern, an argument" amongst other things. Fine.


Ben
TRACT DISTRIBUE A L'OCCASION DE L'EXPOSITION D'ARMAN AU MUSEE MUNICIPAL DE SAINT-PAUL-DE-VENCEE, JUILL 1966
Nice: Centre D'Art Total (Ben), 1966
27 x 21cm, 1pp, mimeographed black on yellow with text by Ben. Effectively Ben uses the Arman exhibition to circulate his own version of a neo-Dada (aka Fluxus) manifesto. Very good and quite scarce.


Ben
UNE FORCE IMMENSE ET MYSTERIEUSE….
Nice: s.p. (Ben), n.d. (c. 1966)
27 x 21cm, 1pp, mimeographed black on white with text by Ben. A lengthy text proclaiming Ben's importance in art and offering a self-portrait photograph for 50 Francs. Very good and quite scarce.



Ben
QUELQUES IDEES
Nice: s.p. (the artist), 1970
21 x 17cm, 18pp plus covers. Rivet-bound. Collated history of the events and activities of Ben from the period 1957 - 1965 with various small b/w images throughout. Scarce. Very good apart from some minor fading to wrappers and minor grubbiness to rear cover.


Ben
MOI BEN JE SIGN
Nice: s.p. (the artist), 1970
21 x 17cm, 18pp plus covers. Rivet-bound. Collated history of the events and activities of Ben from the period 1957 - 1962. Scarce. Very good apart from some minor fading to wrappers and minor grubbiness to rear cover and some rust stains to front cover. In many ways a companion volume to 'Quelques Idees'.


OFFERED JOINT - two items by Guinochet a member of the Fluxus Groupe de Nice and one item by Ben relating to Guinochet - all with hand written notes from Guinochet


Ben
GUILLAUMON ET GUINOCHET
Nice: S.p. (Ben), 1967
8 x 10.5 cm, 1pp blue/w announcement card for various events by the title artists who were members of the Fluxus Groupe de Nice. most of the events took place in the Galerie BEN DOUTE DE TOUT. Fine.
Added: a short but interesting hand written note of c. 60 words in Guinochet's hand explaining the background to the exhibition is attached by a paperclip.


Guinochet
I  AM SEEKING A SPONSOR
Nice: S.p. (Ben), n.d.. (1969)
10.5 x 15cm, 1pp b/w artist postcard with the texts: "Cherche mecene" and "I am seeking a sponsor". As distributed by Guinochet during the Festival Non-Art de Ben. Scarce. Fine.
Added: a hand written note of 7 words in Guinochet's hand explaining what the item is attached by a paperclip.


Guinochet
MARCEL DUCHAMP 1887 - 1968
Nice: S.p. (Ben), n.d.. (1969)
8 x 10.5 cm, 1pp b/w artist postcard with the title text. As distributed by Guinochet during the  Festival Non-Art de Ben as his homage to the recently deceased master. Scarce. Fine.
Added: a hand written note of 7 words in Guinochet's hand explaining what the item is attached by a paperclip.

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PRICE IS FOR ENTIRE ARCHIVE OF 19 BEN PUBLICATIONS PLUS 3 GROUPE DE NICE ITEMS