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125
Emi Ichikawa
Junior,
Product
Design
Isaac Kahn
Junior,
Product
Design
Rachel Rosenthal
Petit-Beurre: An Autobiography, 1978
Rachel Rosenthal
Color xerographic images mounted on cardboard; bound with
two hinged metal rings.
Although mainly known for her performance art, Rachel Rosen-thal
created her autobiographical book featuring the French bis-cuit,
Petit-Beurre. The biscuits hold special meaning to her as she
was born in France and often uses food metaphors in her work.
As you open the book, each page features a Petit-Beurre on the
left and an illustration of a mouth on the right. The biscuit slowly
disappears and reveals words hidden behind, as the mouth ap-pears
to chew. Set in a typewriter typeface with no leading be-tween
the lines, it is difficult to decipher, forcing the viewer to
carefully study each word. The phrases consist of different places
and events that took place throughout Rachel Rosenthal’s life. For
example, she writes, “father dies,” “bad knees,” etc. The use of the
slowly disappearing biscuit could allude to her identity struggles
after being forced to leave France during WWII and her traveling
back and forth between Paris and New York. Rosenthal still
clings to her French background and writes in French, phrases
such as, “qui suis-je” meaning “who am I.” While she may not be
known for her book making, this one piece sums up her life up un-til
1978, using very concise and impactful words.
Oral history interview with Rachel Rosenthal, 1989 September 2-3,
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Ellen Knudson
Wild Girls Redux: An Operator’s Manual, 2009
Crooked Letter Press; Gainsville, Florida
Letterpress printed from photopolymer plates on a variety of papers; type-faces
are Blue Highway, French Cursive, and Cooper Black; two pamphlet
structures sewn into portfolio covered in flocked maroon paper; in manilla
envelope with title on inventory tag card .
Wild Girls Redux works visually and conceptually in a very stylistic way. A first
impression of the book revealed its contents are geared towards a certain
“scene” or style of humor. Pages are packed with stylized diagrams of
women and short bursts of text that seem to be instructional with a hint of dry
humor. A short excerpt from the Crooked Letter Press online also notes, “That
book is a playful list of imaginary "rules" that "should" be followed to achieve
Wild Girl status. The rules are light-hearted, but they have the sting of recogni-tion
that most women realize to be sexist in nature. Wild Girls Redux reexam-ines
these issues, using motorcycle road and driving rules as text along with
images of pin-up girls and industrial schematic illustrations” (Crooked Letter
Press). It is also noted on Crooked Letter Press that this book was created to
revisit Knudsons’ original book How to Become One of the Original Wild Girls.
Content wise, it is apparent that the major intention of the artist was to incor-porate
a satirical feel to how one would envision an operator’s manual. How-ever
because the book is about how to be a “wild girl,” its purpose is rather a
comment on society than an actual manual. The piece is literally presented in
a way that embodies its sub-title, “The operator’s manual.” It comes packed
in an envelope and within the book there are free-floating pieces that are
meant to interact with the actual text and images. These pieces don’t seem to
serve in an obvious way although they fit stylistically to illustrations on pages
throughout the book.
"Wild Girls Redux." Crooked Letter Press. N.p., n.d. Website
Object Description
Description
| Title | Page 126 |
| Full Text of PDF | 125 Emi Ichikawa Junior, Product Design Isaac Kahn Junior, Product Design Rachel Rosenthal Petit-Beurre: An Autobiography, 1978 Rachel Rosenthal Color xerographic images mounted on cardboard; bound with two hinged metal rings. Although mainly known for her performance art, Rachel Rosen-thal created her autobiographical book featuring the French bis-cuit, Petit-Beurre. The biscuits hold special meaning to her as she was born in France and often uses food metaphors in her work. As you open the book, each page features a Petit-Beurre on the left and an illustration of a mouth on the right. The biscuit slowly disappears and reveals words hidden behind, as the mouth ap-pears to chew. Set in a typewriter typeface with no leading be-tween the lines, it is difficult to decipher, forcing the viewer to carefully study each word. The phrases consist of different places and events that took place throughout Rachel Rosenthal’s life. For example, she writes, “father dies,” “bad knees,” etc. The use of the slowly disappearing biscuit could allude to her identity struggles after being forced to leave France during WWII and her traveling back and forth between Paris and New York. Rosenthal still clings to her French background and writes in French, phrases such as, “qui suis-je” meaning “who am I.” While she may not be known for her book making, this one piece sums up her life up un-til 1978, using very concise and impactful words. Oral history interview with Rachel Rosenthal, 1989 September 2-3, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Ellen Knudson Wild Girls Redux: An Operator’s Manual, 2009 Crooked Letter Press; Gainsville, Florida Letterpress printed from photopolymer plates on a variety of papers; type-faces are Blue Highway, French Cursive, and Cooper Black; two pamphlet structures sewn into portfolio covered in flocked maroon paper; in manilla envelope with title on inventory tag card . Wild Girls Redux works visually and conceptually in a very stylistic way. A first impression of the book revealed its contents are geared towards a certain “scene” or style of humor. Pages are packed with stylized diagrams of women and short bursts of text that seem to be instructional with a hint of dry humor. A short excerpt from the Crooked Letter Press online also notes, “That book is a playful list of imaginary "rules" that "should" be followed to achieve Wild Girl status. The rules are light-hearted, but they have the sting of recogni-tion that most women realize to be sexist in nature. Wild Girls Redux reexam-ines these issues, using motorcycle road and driving rules as text along with images of pin-up girls and industrial schematic illustrations” (Crooked Letter Press). It is also noted on Crooked Letter Press that this book was created to revisit Knudsons’ original book How to Become One of the Original Wild Girls. Content wise, it is apparent that the major intention of the artist was to incor-porate a satirical feel to how one would envision an operator’s manual. How-ever because the book is about how to be a “wild girl,” its purpose is rather a comment on society than an actual manual. The piece is literally presented in a way that embodies its sub-title, “The operator’s manual.” It comes packed in an envelope and within the book there are free-floating pieces that are meant to interact with the actual text and images. These pieces don’t seem to serve in an obvious way although they fit stylistically to illustrations on pages throughout the book. "Wild Girls Redux." Crooked Letter Press. N.p., n.d. Website |
