Robert Heinecken

(Berkeley: Landweber/Artists, 1989, a total edition of 60), a portfolio of 12 Cibachrome prints, each matted with text on vellum interleaving, numbered, 1988; together with letterpress title/plate list/colophon, editioned '36/50' in pencil; accompanied by Are You Rea (Los Angeles: self-published, 1968), a portfolio of 25 lithographs; together with the colophon, signed and editioned '436/500' in ink, and preface by Alex Sweetman. Folio, white-lettered black linen portfolio

Acquired from the photographer, 1991

Robert Heinecken, Recto/Verso (Portland, 2006) (the complete set reproduced) 

Robert Heinecken (Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art, 1999), pp. 53-9 and 86-7

Mark Alice Durant, Robert Heinecken: A Material History (Tucson: Center for Creative Photography/The University of Arizona, 2003), pp. 36-41 and 84-9

Robert Heinecken: Object Matter (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2014), pp. 50-9 and 134-9

This portfolio is in overall excellent condition. Recto/Verso: The Cibachrome prints are in generally excellent condition. The colors are rich and saturated, with no apparent fading. Some prints are slightly soiled and there are a few scratches that do not appear to break the emulsion that are only visible in raking light. Specific condition notes are as follows: - Plate 1: A few fingerprints in the margin are only visible in raking light. There is an abrasion along the lower edge of the mat. - Plate 3: There is a tiny black deposit in the margin. - Plate 4: There is a tiny red deposit in the margin. - Plate 7: In raking light, two areas of chemical staining (possibly from processing), are visible. This does not affect the coloration. Are you Rea: The lithographs are in generally excellent condition. There is occasional soiling on the reverse and along the margins. There is a 1/2-inch red-colored area of indeterminate nature on the colophon. The case is slightly soiled and the joints are worn.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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In his two portfolios Recto/Verso (1989) and Are You Rea (1968), Robert Heinecken manipulated advertising imagery.  He used the same method of contact printing for both: a page from a mass-circulation magazine with images of fashions and products of everyday life on either side is placed on light sensitive paper and exposed to light. The resulting image, a photogram made without the use of camera or film, superimposes the visual and verbal information from the front and back of the magazine page.

As a reader turns magazine pages – page after page – the impact of the photograph is largely subliminal. With these aleatory photographs obtained by randomness and collapsing, Heinecken goes again this usual reading sequence. A leading West Coast figure of the Conceptual Art of the West Coast, Heinecken revealed and criticized with these two series made over 20 years the construction and the superficiality of media culture.

Recto/Verso and Are Your Rea are in the following institutional collections: The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Modern, London; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Art Institute of Chicago; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; and the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson.