James Lee Byars was born in Detroit in 1932. An early interest in sculpture and oriental art took him to Japan and the far East before returning to Europe and creating a strong body of work which might be regarded as “romantic minimalism”. By the 1970s he was regarded as one of the USA’s most important conceptual artists.
He was best known for a series of slight performance art actions (such as giving a brief smile to the world after emerging from a museum window) as well as very large and very small sculptural works. The use of paper (and particularly unusual papers) in editions and printed material was also a regular motif. Some of Byars’ works are just a few millimetres in size, others were the size of entire streets.
Byars also created unique letters for many of his friends and these constructions – often written in an unusual “starry” hand – are usually regarded as unique works by the artist on par with his sculptures. They are keenly collected.
Byars suddenly died in Cairo in 1997. His grave is a simple one – and its monument does not match the artist’s pure aesthetic – a final irony.
This collection of over 100 unique works, editions, documents and ephemera display a width of Byars’ artistic endeavours. It has been collected over 15 years by curator Paul Robertson and is currently in the hands of Unoriginal Sins. We will be displaying the entire collection here in this section of the website.New items will be added all the time – do check back.
JAMES LEE BYARS. BERN 1978.
Switzerland: Kunsthalle Bern 1978 24.5 x 24.5cm, unpaginated – approx 80pp plus card covers. Exhibition catalogue and artist’s book designed by the artist – b/w images are alternated with text by the artist. Covers a bit grubby (as almost always found) and a little fading to rear covers but otherwise very good. The first of the "white books" by the artist which coincided with this major retrospective where many sculptural objects were displayed for the first time since the artist’s early career when he displayed stones alongside a walk in his parents’ home.
THE PERFECT WHISPER. 1978.
Bern: Kunstmuseum Bern, 1978 21 x 15cm, 4pp. The programme for Byars' famous minimalist action that took place in the museum where he whispered inside the galleries reserved for the Old Masters. This is the extremely hard to find "programme"/museum handout for that event with a text in Germany by Jurgen Glaesemer. VG+.
DEVIL. 1978.
Bern : Artists Press/Temporary Travelling Press Publications # 12., 1978 21 x 15 cm red card folder (opens to 21 x 30 cm). Gold printed title. On opening a red cord can be seen to be glued into the centerfold of the folder. The total length of cord is 185 cm (the artist’s height). At exactly the mid point of the cord, 3 additional cords of 92cm each are knotted onto the assembly. On one of these cords yet another cord is knotted after exactly 38 cm. Only 150 copies were made of this self-referential object multiple, each individually numbered. VG example. Scarce.
THE 5 CONTINENT DOCUMENTA. 1979.
Groningen: Museum und Corps de Garde, 1979. Three sheets of black tissue paper mounted together to form the number “7”. Folded size: 18.5 x 12.5 cm. Unfolded: 225 x 125 cm. Printed with the text “The Five Continent Documenta 7” printed offset gold. Very good condition. Very limited unnumbered edition. Please note that for this item we have used a stock photograph from other sources.
COMMERCIAL POSTCARD WITH HANDWRITTEN DRAWING BY BYARS TO EUGENIA BUTLER. UNIQUE MAIL ART 1979
10.5 x 21cm, 2pp commercial postcard of a Caspar David Friedrich painting and on the back a handwritten text in Byars’ starry hand which reads “Also sorry not in town love Byars”. This was sent by the artist to The Butlers (Eugenia and her husband who were early supporters of Byars.) Mailed.
LETTER TO JAN HOET. c. 1980s?
47 x 47cm, pencil on red silk paper which is in the shape of a triangle. The text reads: "1 - 1 - 15/YES JAN YES ON MAY FOR THE EXHIBITION OF JAMES LEE BYARS WE MUST HURRY HERE'S .." It is not clear if part of this letter is missing. What is missing is the top of the letter because when we opened the framing after an auction house purchase at Bernaerts it was clear that damp had caused part of the paper to stick to the glass and tear off. Get good condition reports before bidding.
KOWALSKI 1969 – 1972. c.1980. UNIQUE SMALL WORK.
6 x 4.5 x 3.5cm (approx) found stone upon which Byars has written "KOWALSKI 1969 - 1972" in black ink. Piotr Kowalksi was an artist friend of Byars (And who owned several works by the latter) and this appears to be a homage to the former, although we do not know the meaning of the dates chosen other than it appears Byars first met Kowalski in 1969 at the studio of Sara Holt and both Byars and Kowalksi had shows at the Kunsthalle Bern. A small unique work owned by the Swiss collector and art historian Marianne Büchler. We estimate the date of origin of this work as c. 1980.