JORN, Asger; DE JONG, Jacqueline. The Case of the Ascetic Satyr. Snapshots from Eternity. New York: JdJ / DAP, 2015.

This artist book is comprised of several parts:

[A] 2 vol.: (A1) Text volume: 30 p.; ill.; 24 x 30.5 cm.; (A2) Plates volume: n.p. [10 plates]; ill.; 24 x 30.5 cm. [B] 1 folder containing 48 ephemera items (various sizes), loosely inserted as issued. 24 x 30.5 cm.
Both [A] and [B] are housed in an original paper chemise.
[C] 1 folder (24 x 30.5 cm) containing an original etching by J. de Jong, signed and numbered (30/35)
Items [A-C] are housed inside an original, red clamshell dropback box with mounted plate on front

“1962, while living in Paris, Dutch painter, sculptor and editor of The Situationist Times Jacqueline de Jong (born 1939) completed a set of 11 woodcut engravings, a medium in which she rarely worked. Danish painter and writer Asger Jorn (1914–1973) adored the engravings and decided to publish them. First, however, Jorn decided to compose a set of texts to accompany the art work, turning the suite of engravings into an “erotic novel” which they called “The Case of the Ascetic Satyr.” Over the course of the next decade they jotted down playful (and occasionally sexually explicit) notes to each other on anything that came to hand–exhibition flyers, cocktail napkins, even an unused sheet from Memoires, Jorn’s famous collaborative artist’s book with Guy Debord. The texts are mostly in English, the language Jorn and de Jong usually used together, though some are in French, Danish, Dutch or German. Wordplay is prevalent, sometimes referring to James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake. In the end, the book project outlasted the relationship between the two artists, and so was never published. This beautifully produced artist’s book–published in a signed and numbered edition of 200 copies–is thus not so much a facsimile as a true first edition, with the prints accompanied by replicas of the notes between the two lovers. A companion volume includes essays on the piece by leading art historians in the field, Kevin Repp, Marc Lenot, Roberto Ohrt, Karen Kurczynski and Axel Heil” (DAP)

A spectacular account of the nearly two-decade long relationship between two important artists and members of the Situationist movement.

Printed in 334 copies: 200 signed and numbered copies, 100 signed H.C. copies, and 34 deluxe copies that include an original etching by Jacqueline de Jong from “La folie endormie” (1961), signed and numbered. Ours is copy #30. While the regular edition remains available (see https://www.artbook.com/9781938922862.html if interested), the deluxe edition is sold out and not available in the trade.