Jörg Schellmann Libros

Out of print since 1999, the classic catalogue raisonnª of Joseph Beuys's multiples is available again at last. Beuys, the most influential German--and perhaps the most influential European--artist of the postwar period, was born in 1921. He had planned to be a doctor, but following World War II he enrolled in the Dsseldorf Academy of Art. As a professor there in the early 1960s he encountered the influence of Fluxus and began to make and show the multiples--prints and boxes and other objects in editions--that became such a key part of his work. Those highlighted here include sleds, pieces of felt, signed head shots of the artist and texts calligraphed onto bank notes in francs, marks and schillings. Bruno Cora Tea mocks both mass production and boutique cachet by refilling a Coca-Cola bottle with tea, resealing it with flourishes worthy of a Belgian beer, and putting the whole thing in a glass-fronted box. Joseph Multiples includes some 600 pieces, annotated lists of the major collections where they can be found, essays from significant curators and scholars and an interview with the artist.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude: the man with the glasses and the woman with the red hair. Each one was born on the same day in 1935, and this unusual artist couple worked together until Jeanne-Claude's death in 2009, changing the art world in the process. In large-scale actions they enveloped buildings and entire landscapes in various materials, revealing at the same time their essence and beauty. In order to finance these enormous works of art by themselves, Christo and Jeanne-Claude began making saleable editios, multiples or early on in their career-prints, collages, and objects. This completely revised, expanded, and updated catalogue of works, Prints and Objects, is testimony to the artist's impressive scope and to their courage. Who else would have had the idea of building a 120-meter-tall truncated pyramid out of 410,000 oil barrels in the desert of the United Arab Emirates? CHRISTO (1935-2020) and JEANNE-CLAUDE (1935-2009) were an artist couple who became known from the 1960s onwards primarily for their jointly realized spectacular wrapping projects, such as the wrapping of the Reichstag building, the Valley Curtains, and most recently Christo alone with the Floating Piers.

For all their simplicity, the most important goal in Jörg Schellmann's furniture designs is to "avoid banality and reveal subtle beauty." This kind of simplicity-skillfully reducing everything to the essentials-is anything but easy to achieve. It requires the special knowledge of aesthetics and the sort of artistic experience Schellmann has. As an art dealer and publisher, he has been working with the most important artists for over forty years. His furniture designs articulate his in-depth examination of Minimal and Concept Art. At the same time, they reflect an aesthetic that is equally inspired by industry and workshop. This work, as fascinating as it is clear, is presented in this illustrated book and accompanied by texts by Mateo Kries, Donald Judd, and Liam Gillick, among others. JÖRG SCHELLMANN (*1944, Kassel) became internationally known through his work as a gallery owner and publisher of art editions. After producing furniture based on other artists' designs, he created his own line, which is distinguished by skillful minimalism and functionalism.

The Edition Schellmann has produced editions and multiples of international contemporary art since 1969. The array of artists ranges from the great names of the second half of the 20 th century such as Beuys, Christo, Judd, Kounellis, Paik,and Warhol to outstanding representatives of the contemporary art scene likeAlmond, Demand, Hatoum, Gillick, Morris, Ruff, Sierra, and Tuymans. The variety of media and techniques is just as diverse from prints or photographs on paperand mixed media objects made of steel, aluminum, glass, plastic or wood tolarge-scale wall pieces. With about 700 color illustrations, the book documents the development of the internationally renowned Edition Schellmann,which began with editions of prints and multiples and now publishes a wide range of contemporary art in limited editions. The book is a concise history of editions and multiples of the past 40 years that presents a concentrated survey of art from the 1970s to the present day with works by 150 artists.

Thomas Ruff‘s photographic series are compelling. In larger-than-life-sized portraits we encounter the intent gazes of young adults. Sterile building façades serve as a commentary on the misery of urban sprawl. Pixelated nudes from pornographic websites render important details almost indecipherable while underscoring the power of these images. In exhibitions the photographer shows large-scale prints, which are produced in a very limited number. However, he consistently produces small-format photographic prints using a range of reproductive techniques, which usually have editions of thirty and more to make them affordable to a broader art audience. This catalogue raisonné of editions was prepared by Jörg Schellmann in close cooperation with Thomas Ruff (* 1958) and is based on the most up-to-date research. The works are organized chronologically, not according to the year the image was created but its year of production. The volume presents all signed and numbered editions by the artist from 1988 onwards. (German edition ISBN 978-3-7757-3858-3)

Thomas Ruffs Fotoserien berühren – unverwandt blicken uns aus überlebensgroßen Porträts junge Menschen an, sterile Hausfassaden kommentieren die Tristesse der Vorstädte, verpixelte Aktfotos aus Internetpornos lassen zentrale Details kaum erahnen und verweisen doch auf die Macht dieser Bilder. In Ausstellungen zeigt der Fotograf groß dimensionierte Abzüge, die nur wenige Male hergestellt werden. Er produziert jedoch konsequent auch kleinformatige Fotoprints in unterschiedlichen Reproduktionstechniken, die als Editionen in Auflagen von meist mehr als 30 Exemplaren somit für ein breiteres Kunstpublikum erschwinglich sind. Das vorliegende Werkverzeichnis der Editionen wurde von Jörg Schellmann in enger Zusammenarbeit mit Thomas Ruff (*1958) erstellt und beruht auf neuesten Recherchen. Nach Erscheinungsjahren chronologisch geordnet, präsentiert der Band alle signierten und nummerierten Editionen des Fotografen seit 1988. (Englische Ausgabe ISBN 978-3-7757-3859-0)