Item #68991 Artforum, volumes 1-25, 1962-1987, complete. John Irwin, Philip Leider, John Coplans, Joseph Masheck, Ingrid Sischy, eds.

Artforum, volumes 1-25, 1962-1987, complete

San Francisco 1962-1964; Los Angeles, 1964-1967; New York, 1967-present. 253 fine, original issues in decorated paper covers, as issued. When the first issue of Artforum arrived in the summer of 1962, it seemed hopelessly parochial, with its nearly exclusive emphasis on California exhibitions. Even that issue, however, featured an article on Jean Tinguely and George Rickey and a review of Edward Kienholz, both by Arthur Secunda, plus Alfred Frankenstein on Mark Tobey. By the end of the year, the magazine already was spreading its horizon, with Kate Steinitz on fantastic architecture and John Coplans on the first US museum show of Pop Art, "The New Paintings of Common Objects," at the Pasadena Art Museum, with works by Warhol, Lichtenstein, Ruscha, and others. Artforum quickly developed into the world's most influential publication for new art and its leading advocate. Indeed, the enthusiasms of its editors and writers shaped much of the course of contemporary art in those and later years. In her anthology, Looking critically: 21 years of Artforum magazine (1984), Associate Publisher Amy Baker Sandback wrote: "…what would later be tagged as Pop, Minimal, Earthwork, Neo-Expressionism, and New Wave was introduced while the artworks were as yet unknown to the general public and before they had been defined by a body of criticism." Long, early runs like this are virtually impossible to assemble today because of the rarity and fragility of many of the issues. Among the hundreds of high points in this group are the Surrealism issue of September 1966 with its ingenious cover by Ed Ruscha, Robert Smithson's eight important writings from June 1966 through February 1973, the legally suppressed issue of March 1968 with its devastating critique of the then-new Pasadena Art Museum (now the Norton Simon Museum), the Film issue of September 1971, the sensational and vanishingly rare November 1974 with its scandalous advertisement featuring the artist Lynda Benglis, and the February 1982 issue with a Flexidisc by Laurie Anderson. Later years are available to extend this run. Another set of volumes 1-23 is available at $4,480. Please see the free, on-line Artforum Index, 1962-1968 at my own website. Shipping extra on this very heavy set. Please inquire about shipping options before ordering. The scan is the cover for June, 1966, volume IV, number 10. Item #68991

Price: $4,800.00