Traces Suspectes en Surface [Artist Book]

Limited Edition. Boxed Loose Sheets. This work is widely considered to be Rauschenberg's magnum opus of book illustration. "Long enamored of French literature and language, [publisher] Tatyana Grosman attended a lecture by Alain Robbe-Grillet in April 1972. When the writer mentioned Robert Rauschenberg's work, Mrs. Grosman, already aware of stylistic similarities between the two, felt that a collaboration was fated. Two days later, it was underway. During the next four years, Mrs. Grosman sent offset plates to Paris and proofed and translated Robbe-Grillet's text in West Islip; Rauschenberg added images one chapter at a time. The completed pages were sent back to Robbe-Grillet with plates for the next chapter. It soon became clear that Robbe-Grillet was not working in the spirit of sympathetic collaboration but providing a massive text that presented great problems in page design. Rauschenberg responded with images that are much more aloof than in previous books yet responsive to the elegance of the text." [Esther Sparks, Universal Limited Art Editions, pp. 447-459] Put another way: "Alain Robbe-Grillet, the French author and filmmaker, and Robert Rauschenberg have collaborated on an "image-text." The collaboration was difficult, in part because of the procedure (Rauschenberg blocked out where the text would be, Robbe-Grillet wrote it in longhand on plates, and Rauschenberg set the image down on stones) and in part because of one-upsmanship (the images, all taken from French magazines, referred to the text but had a visual logic that often intruded upon it and Robbe-Grillet would complain. Page by page this went on, mostly by mail, for six years. The tension of image and text and of the two artists is evident, and the result is extraordinary." [Foster, Hal. ArtForum] Portfolio with 36 lithographs by Rauschenberg with text by Robbe-Grillet. Printed on unique Twinrocker paper, the work consists of 31 pages plus a title page and 4 colophon pages, printed from 37 stones and 27 aluminum plates. Each of the 31 pages is signed and dated by Rauschenberg and signed and numbered by Robbe-Grillet, with each carries the embossed folio number and publisher's seal. Box shows minor shelf/edge wear, else bright and clean. Red cloth dropspine box, loose prints laid in. fo. [52 x 69 cm. folded] Illus. (color plates). Numbered limited edition of 36 plus 7 AP copies. This is AP 5/7. Signed by artist and author.…