DIETER ROTH

BOOKS

Dieter Roth and the Artist’s Book

Illustrated books usually resulted from the combined labours of an author, a visual artist, a papermaker, printer, bookbinder, and perhaps even an editor. They mainly started with the author’s text, which would then be carefully set, illustrated with original printed graphics, printed on expensive paper and bound into a specially designed cover. A limited edition would then be published, which led to the traditional format of a valuable book that was nevertheless a means of communicating artistic expression.

Around 1960, a new kind of book came into being almost simultaneously in Europe and in the United States: the artist’s book, or livre d’artiste. As an ensemble, in terms of its content, form and production, the artist’s book is entirely born of one artist’s ideas. It strives to be the work of art itself, rather than merely a means of depicting or communicating art. It is often modest in its composition, made of the same materials usually found in industrial book production, and is frequently self-published by the author.

Dieter Roth is widely considered the father of the European artist’s book. Works such as Kinderbuch (1957), Bok 1956–59 and Ideogramme (1959) are the earliest examples of this new genre. They were all produced with modest means and published in small batches by Roth’s own press, forlag ed. Up until the mid-1960s, Roth released a large number of text-free books featuring geometric shapes, stamps, lines, as well as atypical materials such as newspapers, comic books and printer’s working sheets. These books are works of art in their own right, instruments used to instruct true perception.

1966 saw the publication of Scheisse. Neue Gedichte von Dieter Rot (Shit: New Poetry by Dieter Rot). This represents Roth’s first piece as an author and also marks the beginning of a book complex that would occupy him for many years. In 1968, it was followed by Noch mehr Scheisse. Eine Nachlese (More Shit: A Sequel). In the period to 1975, Roth continued to publish new editions which reworked previous ones, for example by adding illustrations to the poems. A distinctive feature of this enterprise is that Roth, in keeping with the definition of the artist’s book, also published the complete record of the edits he made to the text and pictures, as well as instructions for how the next edition should be printed. In order to be sure that his intentions were followed to the letter, he became a partner at Edition Hansjörg Mayer, which then took over the publication of most of his books. The Scheisse cycle became the most significant work in Roth’s poetic oeuvre. He followed a similar process to produce the five volumes that make up Das Tränenmeer (The Sea of Tears; 1973–78), which lifts sentences that had originally appeared in adverts in aguide to the city of Lucerne and gently combines them with illustrations and poems. In the 1980s, Roth changed his form of publication and chose to directly reproduce manuscripts, particularly diaries and notebooks. These books rarely appeared in printed form. Instead, the medium was photocopy, which resulted in smaller print runs. Series of illustrations also appeared as photocopy books. The colour drawings in particular highlight Roth’s desire to let the book itself stand alone as the work of art. He does not wish his drawings to be depicted with painstaking faithfulness to the original; his use of the medium is far more a conscious choice of a means of design. His free choice of colour control results in deviations from the template, which in turn lead to new images that are ultimately brought together in the book to form a new work of art. 

From the mid-1970s, Roth kept adding to his Collected Works with each new book.The collection eventually spanned forty volumes in total, thus offering a comprehensive review of his work as a bookmaker and author. Yet here too, true reprints are rare. In collecting his books together for the complete edition, he often alters their form or expands on them. In this manner, volumes which should – in line with their role as a review of his complete works – demonstrate earlier pieces, end up becoming new artist’s books in their own right.

For Roth, books – and of course writing itself – were one of his most important forms of artistic expression, and remained so throughout his life. He created a diverse and comprehensive oeuvre of books, whose reach nevertheless failed to extend beyond a small circle of art enthusiasts, much to his disappointment. Furious at this lack of interest, he destroyed partial editions of early books, transforming them in the process to valuable rarities that are difficult to track down today. It is only recently that interest in Roth’s books and his work as an author appears to be growing, suggesting that they might yet be granted the recognition they deserve.