wit

catalogue number: hdv 1962.081.1
date created: 1962
classification: editions & publications
work type: artist's publication
medium: 200 empty pages except page [5] indicating title, author, publisher and impressum and [] with an introduction by J.C. van Schagen [invisible]
dimensions: 20.2 × 21.6 × 3 cm
signature and inscriptions: signed and numbered (in white pencil)
edition: 5 (only 1 for sale), numbered [1/5-]5/5
published by M.J. Israel : Arnhem 1962, printed by D.A. Gubbels
added: 4 white collages
current repository: [5/5] Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Stuttgart
current repository number:
collecting history: [5/5] the sole copy for sale was acquired by Hanns Sohm, Markgröningen
related works: the book Hansjörg Mayer published in 1967 had another format (500 copies). Another (third) edition came out in Bern (artists press, [1980]); indicated as an edition of 5000 but only 100 were made. It is a 'revised edition', as there is no text anymore in the book or at the outside. the text is here only on abanderole [i.e. wrapper], so if you take away the banderole, the book is empty, no title, no (empty) introduction, anonym." In 2012 and 2014 more white books were published.
comment: this blank book appeared in several versions. In a letter to Anne Moeglin-Delcroix of January 16, 1997, herman de vries describes them: "i liked simply the idea of expressing 'white' as it was and make an almost empty publication, but not empty of content. later i made the book wit [= white], in 1962, in 5 copies, from which only one was for sale.
photo/scan: herman de vries archive
rights & reproduction: herman de vries
exhibition history
2023 'Blank. Raw. Illegible ... Artists' Books as Statements (1960–2022)', Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren [group]
published references
catalogue raisonné herman de vries. les livres et les publications: catalogue raisonné (centre des livres d'artistes : Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche 2005) image repr. on page 98 (catalogue number 4).
exhibition catalogue Blank. Raw. Illegible ... Artists' Books as Statements (1960–2022) (Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König : Cologne 2023) image repr. on page 19, 126-131 (catalogue number 2).