Moebius Hendrix Portfolio Signed

[ Jimi Hendrix Portfolio for Emotions electriques ]

Moebius and Jean-Nöel Coghe

Publication: Paris: Stardom, 1998. First Edition.

Notes: An iconic (at least in Europe) imagining of Jimi Hendrix in a series of psychedelic worlds and landscapes; ten color images plus three black-and-white sheets. This Hendrix portfolio is an extended riff on the art Moebius (pseudonym of Jean Giraud) did for the 1975 French release of Are You Experienced and Axis: Bold As Love. For that album cover (reproduced here as one of the plates), Moebius reinterpreted a photograph of the great guitar player eating soup.

The journalist who took the photograph, Jean-Nöel Coghe, was upset that he did not receive credit for his contribution. What could have been a festering dispute over artistic rights and obligations grew into a collaboration. First, Moebius and Coghe collaborated on this portfolio, with Coghe providing the text (printed on one sheet) and other photographs he took of Hendrix (printed on another sheet), and Moebius, in a burst of creativity, producing ten images that are among his most popular in a long career as an illustrator.

Prints, 19-1/2 by 15-3/4, consisting of a cover sheet, numbered and signed by Moebius and Coghe; ten color Moebius images; a sheet of black-and-white halftone photographs by Coghe; and Coghe's text, in French. In a slightly larger stiff paper and plastic portfolio box. Limited to 500 copies (the first 50 are in a blue box; the rest are in an orange box).

The prints are sometimes described as serigraphs or screenprints. I think that is incorrect, although the quality of printing is very high and one can find individual prints from this portfolio for $750 and up. I think these are offset lithographs printed using spot colors rather than CMYK, which is a sort of hybrid process between a serigraph and an offset lithograph.

Edition + Condition: Set 318 of 500. One print has a small surface scar and several plates have slightly bumped corners, but overall, this is a fine set in a fine box. This is portfolio 318 of 500, signed by Moebius and Coghe on the limitation sheet.

Item No: #365023

Price: $3,850