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.
P.I.T.L. UNIQUE WORK IN A SERIES. 1990s.
N.p.: s.p., n.d. 24cm, 4pp dia. black card circle which is folded along a slightly flattened edge on the left. Opens up to display the text “P.I.T.L.” handwritten by Byars in his starry hand. Unique within a series of such works all hand made. Limitation of series unknown.
P.I.I.T.L. (PERFECT IS IN THE LOUVRE). 1990.
Florence: Exempla / Exit Editions / Zona Archives, 1990 21 x 14.5 cm, 4pp. Self-covers. Artist’s book – the title text stands for “PERFECT IS IN THE LOUVRE” and the book is a parody of (or hommage to) the format and typographic style of the Nouvelle Revue Françaisem Editions Gallimard. One of 1,000 issued. Fine. Now scarce.
UNTITLED (BIBLIOTECA NAZIONALE FIRENZE). 1990. VERY RARE BYARS’ EMPHEMERA – NOT IN THE BYARS CATALOGUE RAISONNE
Firenze: Zona Archives, 1990 22 x 5.7cm, 2pp strip of card, creased for folding and printed on both sides – on one with a small colour image of the artist and the whole side laminated – and on the reverse in one section there is the text ‘James Lee Byars, Bilblioteca Nazionale, Firenze, Zona Archives, Novembre 1990’. The whole is designed to be folded into a cube (with open top and bottom). Extremely scarce emphera from Byars and not in the Byars catalogue raisonne. Fine condition.
THE GRAND SALON OF JAMES LEE BYARS. c. 1990. HAND ADDRESSED BY BYARS
Texas: Contemporary Arts Museum, 1990 14 x 20.5cm printed black envelope with a text (“Contemporary Arts Museum invites you to the Perfect Thought by James Lee Byars…..”) in gold calligraphy on the front, enclosed is a length of golden thread. V Hand addressed and mailed by Byars to Christian Germaine and his family of Paris.
TWO HANDWRITTEN LETTERS BY JAMES LEE BYARS TO BRANDON KRALL BOTH PAGES IN HIS STARRY SCRIPT. UNIQUE NO DATE (EARLY 90s)
Two folded black pieces of hand edged paper – 30 x 32cm, and 32.5 x 29cmm. Both with handwritten text in gold ink with Byars’ unmistakable starry stylings. The first seems to read “B I **** luck try that on yr modest group (the ***** of Godess??) you I hope you have a very creative” And the second: ” time. Have call’d S 7 – I made it all official SEV times (??) Ate 8 – mouthfuls of **** yeats (years?). You keeping him here?? 9 – Make me some luck please. How material is a work 10 – make me some faith?? What is a work?? 11 Thank ytou for yr letter Let’s meet up soon Yrs JLB.” Bother are hard to read. We understand these were sent to Brandon Krall (the B is for Brandon) from who we purchased the letters. The introduction of the numbering in the second letter from 9 is curious – but the two clearly related to each other and one text continues from the previous one. The letters were delivered by hand to Krall by Byars. Fine condition. Unique.
HANDWRITTEN LETTER BY JAMES LEE BYARS TO BRANDON KRALL . UNIQUE NO DATE (EARLY 90s)
A heavily crushed thin sheet of black paper (sent to Brandon Krall) with the hand-written text “Ideal” in the centre in red ink. Date unknown but 1990s. Some tiny tears to the paper where the thin tissue has been folded during the crushing. The work was given by Byars in this form (by hand to Krall).
HANDWRITTEN LETTER ON FOLDED CARD BY JAMES LEE BYARS. UNIQUE NO DATE (EARLY 90s)
35 x 25cm, 4pp (folded single sheet of black card) with A the hand-written letter which reads “Brandon ****** standing up is ideal” in gold ink. Date unknown but early 1990s. The work was given by Byars in this form (by hand to Krall). The writing is so hard to read with the embellishments that this is almost an abstract work. VG condition (some minor edge damage to the card not affecting text) and unique. If you can decipher the text then do contact us!
THE PERFECT THOUGHT WORKS BY JAMES LEE BYARS. 1990. SIGNED & DEDICATED BY AUTHOR.
Houston: Contemporary Arts Museum, 1990 27.5 x 21cm, 156pp plus red cloth boards and pictorial dust jacket. First edition of this well-researched monograph issued on the occasion of the large scale Texan exhibition which was planned to bring Byars to a wider American audience. The essays and introductions are good and the entire book is illustrated in b/w and full colour plates (mostly of Byar’s classically formed sculptures although paper works and performances are well represented too) but Elliott’s “Notes towards an autobiography” is an extensive timeline of Byar’s career and life and still unsurpassed in empathy. This example has some closed tears on the back and the front of the dustjacket near the spine and some wear and tear along the foldlines of the dj but internally fine. Scarce.
ZERO MASS. 1990. WITH MULTIPLE HAND-MADE CLAY BALL. ONE OF 50 DELUXE SIGNED COPIES.
Lund: Propexus, 1990 28 x 29.5 x 8.5 cm box with printed bandeau. Internal a book with metal board covers and 320pp. The deluxe edition consisting of a handmade (rough sphere) clay multiple by James Lee Byars, titled “The Sphere of Generosity,” and a blue steel covered book by Eric Orr and Byars. The book contains “The Matter of O,” a rubber-stamped stain of Orr’s blood; “Skull Page,” made of handmade paper using Kozo fibers and a powdered mummy skull with red screenprinting. Pages 25 / 26 were hand-torn by the artist. The book, a monograph / catalogue raisonné by Orr with interventions by Byars, and multiple are housed in a large polystyrene box and slipcased in a screenprinted cardboard box. An overwhelmingly well produced project that sets a high standard for both artists’ publications and artist designed monographs. This is one of the very small number of signed examples. Fine
UNTITLED LETTER (HEART). 1990s. VERY LARGE UNIQUE WORK ON PAPER
145.4 x 117.5cm, graphite on heart shaped gold paper. A letter to the art historian Toni Stoss – the text in Byars starry writing is hard to read. Folded for posting but now displayed unfolded on a backing board. Minor repaired tears at a couple of corners. Unique – probably early 1990s.