Hundertwasser
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Not only can you read about the creation of one of the most beautiful art books ever released and buy it but you can review it yourself. Reviews are here. Added a few scans here to give you a flavour of the book.
As any follower of his work will know, Hundertwasser took much care in designing his books. Indeed, his first catalogues were created against opposition from publishers who argued that his strict production demands were too costly and would not be successful commercially. Hundertwasser stuck to his guns, succeeded, and left us with a body of work few other artists can match.
This hardcover catalogue is my favourite book of recent years. It's just a little gem (it's 15 x 11.6 x 2 cm), a treasure to behold, to touch, to open up each page and see something that is a celebration of all that is beautiful in life.
The author Wieland Schmied is an art historian and was a longtime friend and companion of Hundertwasser.
He is president of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Art and is the author of numerous books, including the catalogue raisonne of Hundertwasser's works
Originally, Hundertwasser designed the catalogue to accompany the museum exhibition tour of New Zealand and Australia in 1973–74.
The special design which Hundertwasser created for this catalogue was a basis for many books which Hundertwasser designed over the years:
The colour of the pages is black on which the reproduced artworks unfold their brillant colour effect.
The colour of the reproductions was changed and improved manually during the printing process which gives the images an extreme brilliance.
The font is in grey on black background because Hundertwasser refused the black-white contrast.
Part of the book is printed in the “Regentag font” which was invented and created by Hundertwasser and used for many of his publications. Regentag font is copyright protected.
The work numbers are framed oval by hand and also the page numbers are written manually.
Pictograms structure the text and were used instead of dots between the sentences. The typical format of 15,3 x 11 cm was revised also for many catalogues of the World Travelling Museum Exhibition.
This catalogue book was sold out within a few months, a second and third edition with a total of 75,000 copies was printed.
Hundertwasser changed the title reproduction for the second edition by using an enlarged detail of work 690 GREEN POWER, green version.
The catalogue was reprinted for Hundertwasser’s exhibition at the Albertina (State Collection of Graphic Art), Vienna, 1974. This version of the catalogue was used for the Albertina Graphic Exhibition in the US 1980.
The actual edition is a reprint published by Prestel Verlag, Munich, 2008 to commemorate what would have
been Hundertwasser’s 80th birthday.
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