Kippenberger fanden wir schon immer gut, Familie Grässlin.
Full-bleed green & white illus. throughout. Ca. [424] pp. Thick square 4to (268 x 244 mm.), pictorial softcover, title on spine. Sankt Georgen: Collection Grässlin, 1994.
An invaluable record of the most extensive collection of Kippenberger’s work, assembled by the Grässlin family over several decades. Kippenberger (1953-97) and Sabine Grässlin are credited as the designers of the present catalogue. Koch estimates that it was printed in an edition of ca. 1000 copies. For the subsequent major exhibition at the Brandenburgischer Kunstverein (5 June-31 July 1994), a new dust-jacket depicting Kippenberger’s skull was added (explanation below); copies with this are extremely rare. Our copy was presumably sold before this could be included.
“The Grässlin family from St. Georgen in the Black Forest, close friends of Martin Kippenberger for many years, owns the largest collection of his works. Kippenberger fanden wir schon immer gut [We always thought that Martin Kippenberger is great] is a catalogue of these works designed by the artist in collaboration with Sabine Grässlin…
“It shows the entire Kippenberger cosmos, in chronological order, with full-page illustrations, cropped and uncommentated: childhood letters, paintings, sculptures, drawings, books, posters, invitation cards, multiples, and photographs. In reference to St. Georgen, Kippenberger had the entire catalogue printed in ‘Black Forest Pine Green,’ according to the maxim ‘Green Forest instead of Black Forest’…
“The appendix contains a list of illustrations in German and English, a short biography and a list of solo and group exhibitions. From 5 June to 31 July 1994, the Grässlin’s Kippenberger collection was shown at the Brandenburgischer Kunstverein in Potsdam under the title ‘Das 2. Sein’ [2nd Being]. On this occasion, the catalogue was given a new [dust-jacket] showing a computer tomography of Kippenberger’s skull, which he won in a game of Mau-Mau against Christoph Steinmeyer, a radiologist’s son.”–Koch.
In excellent condition. We find just seven American institutions that have this catalogue: Museum of Modern Art (NY), Getty, Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY), Ohio State, Princeton, and Museum of Contemporary Art-Los Angeles.
❧ Uwe Koch, Annotated catalogue raisonné of the books by Martin Kippenberger, 1977-1997 (2003) 135.
Price: $350.00
Item ID: 8234
