Talk:Warja Lavater

Expanding the Stub
As a fan of Honegger-Lavater, I was disappointed at the size of the existing entry. It was also only listed under "Warja Lavater" when the currently accepted version of the name (according to Library of Congress) is "Warja Honegger-Lavater" (i.e., that's how you'll find her books in most English language Library Catalogs adhering to LC authority headings.

Anyway, it's time to make a better article on this wonderful artist (and "wonderful" will not impinge NPOV for this entry). -- Quartermaster 17:08, 16 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Just noticed that LC now lists her authority record under "Warja Lavater" and not "Honegger-Lavater" so that needs to be fixed. --Quartermaster (talk) 15:32, 21 January 2016 (UTC)

An Improper Move?
I may have screwed up by not moving this page as the wiki editing documentation suggested. I'm still a noob. So, I might have broken any edit history, however, I don't think this is that critical since the original (should still be in the history of this page) was so sparse. Sorry. -- Quartermaster 18:06, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

Works (previously Bibliography)
This is the weakest, and maybe easiest area in which to expand. Be careful about the ambiguous editions and changing surname. Anyway, if you want to chime in with entries in the bibliography, let's go! -- Quartermaster 18:11, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

Ok folks, I've made an "author search" link to OCLC's WorldCat so if y'all want to beef up the bibliography (now called "Works"), feel free to use that link to find more works to add. I changed this section from "Bibliography" to "Works" to reflect her efforts which extend beyond mere "books." --Quartermaster 15:55, 18 April 2007 (UTC)


 * OCLC Worldcat (Honegger-Lavater as author search) - Quartermaster (talk) 17:50, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Looking for useable Lavater art
There are a few places where photographs of her lithograph based fan-fold books can be found (do a google for "lavater" and you'll get some) but I need to find something that can be inserted in this article. Help! --Quartermaster 21:02, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Ubs diversity1.gif
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BetacommandBot (talk) 07:44, 15 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Just noting that this was done. Follow the links! -Quartermaster (talk) 21:07, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Clearing up marital status
According to the German wikipedia entry she became separated(?) from her husband in 1973. Also, at http://www.galerielinder.ch/html/honegger.htm the (German language) article on Gottfried says "1990 gründete er mit seiner Lebensgefährtin Sybil Albers-Barrier den Espace de l'Art Concret im Schloss von Mouans-Sartoux." A translation of this indicates Gottfried was married by 1990 to Sybil Albers-Barrier. Some minor things, but striving for accuracy. That's why I struck the earlier version's mention of residing with her husband outside of Zurich at the time of her death. - Quartermaster (talk) 21:18, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Exhibitions veracity
This was one of my early wikipedia forays into working on an article in more than just a proof-reading capacity. Hence, I did some things THEN that I wouldn't do NOW. For example, I culled the exhibitions listed from various sources (the listed biographies, etc.). Whereas now I would make a citation to the specific source, that's not the case herein. I just want to note for posterity that the list of exhibitions was based on authoritative third party sources. Eventually, I'll try to revisit and fix things. Just a lonely admirer of Warja Lavater plugging away. --Quartermaster (talk) 15:31, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

Artist's Book
re: The point of the claim that Ed Ruscha's Twentysix Gasoline Stations is the first modern artist's book is that it is mass produced, cheap, with a machine aesthetic. ie The emphasis is on Modern not Book. No-one has ever claimed he made the first Livre d'Artiste, a different type of book that dates to Parallèlement by Pierre Bonnard (see ), printed in 1900. Lavater's book is clearly a Livre d'artiste, being a fine-art edition, illustrating a classic text, in a hand-made signed edition. Not a modern artist's book at all. Read Artist's book for a potted history, as well as for a better definition. The claims made on this page misunderstand the basic definitions. For other artist's books on wikipedia which predate Ruscha and Lavater, see La prose du Transsibérien et de la Petite Jehanne de France 1913, Universal_War 1916 Zang Tumb Tumb 1914, Une Semaine de Bonté 1934, Russian Ballet (book) 1919, and Yves: Peintures 1954. Google Klänge by Kandinsky (1908) or Ursonate (1932) by Schwitters as well. Franciselliott (talk) 07:35, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
 * I defer to your expertise here, but the point you are making is not clear in the related articles. When I began editing I noted that the Ruscha article tended to state the primacy of Ruscha without context (and this primacy has been accurately clarified in subsequent edits). Feel free to edit away and add context. I have no dispute here. Except that Lavater's work WAS mass produced, depending upon the definition of "mass produced." I don't wish to argue here (again, I defer to your expertise) but can only contend that based on the statements in the articles at the time I made my edits/comments, Ruscha was unambiguously being represented as the progenitor of this category of work with no clear context. Again, subsequent edits by others have modified that contention in the relevant Wikipedia articles. A sincere thanks for the illumination. I learned something. --Quartermaster (talk) 14:42, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

A note about Leporello
Many of her books are called "Leporello" (there is at least one in OCLC WorldCat) which I erroneously assumed was a book about Don Giovanni's secretary. It seems that this refers to a type of accordion fold album. So, books called "Leporello" are equivalent to those called "Folded Story." I.e., there is not enough information without inspecting the work to see WHICH folded story, or WHICH Leporello, is being referenced. So I removed the one work entitled Leporello from the bibliography. --Quartermaster (talk) 12:55, 4 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Ok, I just found out that she actually DID write a work entitled Leporello (OCLC 54058300 see record at U of Texas Arlington). "Leporello" is still a style of binding (and the above comment stands), but Lavater appears to be aware of that, and then went ahead and did a book in that style entitled Leporello which I restored to the bibliography. This is so witty of the artist! --Quartermaster (talk) 15:10, 5 October 2010 (UTC)

For the record, I learned about the term "Leporello" from this article by Michael Aitken in the December, 2006 issue of biblionews AND AUSTRALIAN NOTES AND QUERIES- A JOURNAL FOR BOOK COLLECTORS entitled "The Leporello and Lorne: A Personal Story" which is the cite I used in the main article when referring to "Leporello." --Quartermaster (talk) 15:39, 5 October 2010 (UTC)

Two works that don't fit anywhere?
I found two works in an auction catalog (the latter was a 2008 purchase by the Swiss National Library according to that year's annual report). The Fischerautionen catalog lists La Peintre Figuratif (1965) and l'Avertisseur - Petit livre animé (1963), and I'm not sure where to put them. 861 WARJA LAVATER Winterthur 1913-2007 Le Peintre Figuratif Unikat. Leporello, Aquarell und Tusche auf Japanpapier, im Innendeckel in Bleistift signiert und datiert 1965 plus Stempelsignatur. Karton mit Seide überzogen, in Kartonschuber, 16 x 11 cm CHF 300/500.– EUR 190/315.–

I think this first one is unique ("Unikat"?). 862 WARJA LAVATER Winterthur 1913-2007 l’Avertisseur - Petit livre animé Leporello, Tuschzeichnungen auf Japanpapier, in Tusche signiert mit Warja Honegger-Lavater, betitelt und datiert 1963. In Kartonschuber, 9 x 9,8 cm - Dabei: “Die Leute”, ein Punktogramm, gestempelt und beschrieben von Warja Lavater. In Bleistift signiert und nummeriert 28/75. Benteli Verlag, Bern 1979. 17,5 x 11 cm CHF 300/400.– EUR 190/250.–

This second does indicate that is signed and number 28 (of 75).

--Quartermaster (talk) 15:17, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

External links modified
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