Box of Surrealist Art
El umbral secreto: El encuentro internacional de la cultura surrealista. De mente, erótica, onírica, poética
Notes: The limited edition catalog of the 2010 international Surrealist conclave held in Chile, housed in a wooden box with a hinged lid.
This box includes the four catalogs, one of artwork, one of poetry, one of prose works, and one titled "Más de teoría" (Beyond theory). The latter is perfectbound; the other three consist of narrow sheets of paper printed in color on both sides, with a hole drilled in one corner for binding with a bolt and a wing nut.
The lid is screenprinted on both sides in black. The top has the title and an illustration; the lower lid is screenprinted with a short piece by Octavio Paz on Surrealism (beginning, "El surrealismo ha sido la manzana en el árbol de la sintaxis" [Surrealism has been the apple on the syntax tree] reprinted from his "Arbol adentro").
Other items laid in to the box are:
1) A metal totem on a paper and foam-core stand by the Chilean artist Mario Murua;
2) A box of matches designed by Ximena Olguin, with an image by Ody Saban, and a printed poem by Enrique de Santiago. The instructions are to read the poem and then burn it with the accompanying match;
3) An illegibly signed offset print;
4) An envelope with various art and poetry pieces;
5) A folding sleeve containing many reproductions of handwritten poems by various authors;
6) 12 small polished stones;
7) Two sea shells;
8) Two dyed feathers, one purple and the other red;
9) A small paper object like a lunch box, labeled Matta;
10) A small bottle mounted to foam core labeled, "Frasco para las lágrimas" (Bottle for tears);
11) An object in the shape of a small clay pipe with a cartoonish fish mounted on the stem inserted on a piece of foamcore labeled "Ceci n'est pas une pipe."
Limited to 100 copies housed in a wooden box painted red and printed in black on the cover.
Edition + Condition: Box near fine, numbered 19 on the bottom. Contents also near fine (missing one screw and wing nut for one of the catalogs); otherwise seemingly complete, but there is no contents sheet to collate with. Not recorded in OCLC. "Más de teoría" catalog signed by Enrique de Santiago.
Publication: Valparaíso, Chile: El Umbral Secreto, 2010.
Item No: #361627
Price: $1,250