Montparnasse
THE GREAT GURSKY AND THE GREAT GREY MONTPARNASSE BOOK. SOLD OUT IN 1995. IT MUST BE TWENTY TIMES AS DESIRABLE NOW! COMPRISING TWO BOOKS, A PRINT AND A LIST OF NAMES, IT IS THE MOST PERFECTLY PACKAGED OBLONG BOX.
No one says oblong much anymore - certainly not anyone born after this book was published. It is such the right word though. It may be rectangular in dimension but it is definitely an oblong box! Of course there is a reason for its distinctive shape: the photograph below.
This is Paris, Montparnasse, an image of the Immeuble d'habitation Maine-Montparnasse II, designed in 1959 by Jean Dubuisson and completed in 1964. In 1993 it was photographed in two parts by Gursky from the lobby of a hotel opposite and digitally composed as one vast vista. In 2013 (to continue the date theme), an artist's proof of the four metre wide artwork sold at Sotheby's for �1.5million. The print that comes with this book is roughly 75 times smaller at 480 by 260mm and about 750 times less expensive!
The surnames of every tenant of the block in 1993. What we particularly like about this is that it is such a statement of fact that there is nothing to say about it! Just look it and think 'cool'.
Tessellation. The book's contents unpack from oblong to square. The print in the top part and a book of blown up close ups (see below).
Appartement � louer. The flat between the Georges and the Roberts is unnoccupied. Noise issues with the Boredons perhaps?
Zoom in and in again and the modernist urban superstructure gives way to a single bunch of marigolds.
