Godot: An imaginary staging by William T. Wiley of Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
- SIGNED Hardcover
- San Francisco: Arion Press, 2006
San Francisco: Arion Press, 2006. Hardcover. Fine. Hardcover. Number 286 of 300 numbered copies for sale with 26 lettered copies for complimentary distribution. Signed by William T. Wiley on the colophon. This exuberant and mordantly witty edition of this book was published on the hundredth anniversary of Beckett's most famous work. William T. Wiley (1937 - 2021) was an influential artist and educator who helped found the funk art movement and establish the San Francisco Bay Area art scene as an unfiltered alternative to what he saw as the flagrant commercialism of New York, The funk art movement took its name from “Funk,” a seminal exhibition organized by the curator Peter Selz in Berkeley in 1967. It included, among others, Mr. Wiley, the painter Joan Brown, the sculptor Robert Hudson and the ceramist Robert Arneson. None, it seemed, could ever fully agree on what funk art was, only on what it was not [from the NYT obituary of Wiley]
For this Arion Press publication, Wiley made fifty-two cartoon-like drawings. In his program note, Hoyem writes that the audience should remember that this is not the play Godot. It is a book about the play with a critic's appreciation and an artist's comments. It is an artist's book by Wiley inspired by Waiting for Godot. The synopsis is only a guide. This book was designed by Andrew Hoyem, who provided the program note that appears before the curtain rises, and a synopsis that runs in five-line segments beneath the Wiley illustrations. The binding of the book and its slipcase have yellow paper sides and blue cloth spines and labels, imprinted with the titling and images by Wiley. Printed on mouldmade Hahnemüle paper using Century Expanded type. The wordplay on the slipcase includes the palindrome "To Dog Godot" and is surrounded by a field of Irish potatoes. [from the accompanying prospectus] This Arion Press edition was provided for free to purchasers of the bilingual Grove Press edition of Waiting for Godot. It is present here. In fine condition. Measures 10 x 15 inches. 68 pages. PRI/112524.
For this Arion Press publication, Wiley made fifty-two cartoon-like drawings. In his program note, Hoyem writes that the audience should remember that this is not the play Godot. It is a book about the play with a critic's appreciation and an artist's comments. It is an artist's book by Wiley inspired by Waiting for Godot. The synopsis is only a guide. This book was designed by Andrew Hoyem, who provided the program note that appears before the curtain rises, and a synopsis that runs in five-line segments beneath the Wiley illustrations. The binding of the book and its slipcase have yellow paper sides and blue cloth spines and labels, imprinted with the titling and images by Wiley. Printed on mouldmade Hahnemüle paper using Century Expanded type. The wordplay on the slipcase includes the palindrome "To Dog Godot" and is surrounded by a field of Irish potatoes. [from the accompanying prospectus] This Arion Press edition was provided for free to purchasers of the bilingual Grove Press edition of Waiting for Godot. It is present here. In fine condition. Measures 10 x 15 inches. 68 pages. PRI/112524.