Dieter Roth Books + Multiples: Catalogue Raisonne

by Dieter Roth, Dirk Dobke, Thomas Kellein

Dieter Roth was a multifaceted artist, as Volume 3 in the series of books featuring works from the Dieter Roth Foundation makes abundantly clear. He worked in many media, and Books + Multiples includes over 200 artist's books, forty multiples, jewelry, films, videos, tapes, records, and posters produced over a fifty-year period. Beginning in the 1950s, Dieter Roth took the artist's book in new directions. Starting with op-art and visual poetry books, he then experimented with all aspects of offset printing and by the 1990s was producing "copy books," using photocopiers. His multiples were equally innovative, incorporating materials such as chocolate, sugar, and spices. Dieter Roth began filmmaking in his mid-twenties, and his interest in moving images and sound remained to the end. The jewelry editions shed light on a little known aspect of his early work, while the last section of the book shows all his poster designs. A touring exhibition of Dieter Roth's work will open at the Museum of Modern Art in March 2004. 750 color illustrations.

320 pages, Hardcover

First published April 26, 2004

About the author

Dieter Roth (April 21, 1930 – June 5, 1998) was a Swiss artist best known for his artist's books, editioned prints, sculptures, and works made of found materials, including rotting food stuffs. He was also known as Dieter Rot and Diter Rot.

The dark undertone and furious, obsessive energy of his work ultimately separated him from many of the more lighthearted Fluxus artists. Perhaps despite himself, he was a fluent draftsman and expert printmaker, and his drawings and prints contained his wild energy within peculiarly virtuosic forms. Compared to the innumerable self-described artists of the last several decades who faked their way through his sort of work, Mr. Roth was the genuine item.