Metamorphoses by Bofford Jacques and Serge Diakonoff. Principal photography by Serge Diakonoff - 1984

Offering: The first monograph on the artist with an extraordinary signed presentation by Serge Diakonoff; additionally signed by his principal model and collaborator, Miralda Rochat. The example is bound in the publisher's deluxe brown linen cloth reserved for presentation. The Presentation: The centerpiece is the original scenic design drawing that extends over two pages with its vision of the transformation of the world through an incarnated divine avatar, a prominent element of Hindu belief. The vision guide is a striking avatar after Miralda Rochat, the headdress and dorsal costume incorporating body art, with a portrait on the torso. The 19.06 x 12.56 inches (484 x 319 mm) mixed media drawing was done in watercolor and pen & ink in March 1985. Not one of his familiar presentation drawings, it was done specially for Christian Lefebvre who was married to Nicole Lefebvre, the performance artist, featured in the illustration on page 95. It anticipates the late 80s joy of painting works. The viewers see a tremulous human figure, dwarfed by a far ranging plain in the midst of metamorphosis; the plain shown as a divinity's colossal leg outstretched, the foot pushed against the border of the stage. A sheered volcanic mass rises near the center: in the far background, the sky is alight with energy discharges and spiraling clouds of vapor. Condition: Book: Very Good / Presentation Drawing: Fine / Jacket: Acceptable. Detail: Pages: clean, except some pigment offset from the original drawing to facing pages / Boards: clean and bright / Binding: tight and true, front hinge beginning to crack. / Jacket: top and bottom edge tears; Upper Side with large bottom edge tear and minor spotting. Pagination: Complete, 143 pages with 317 illustrations, text with 4 b/w illustrations, the suite of illustrations with 109 color photograph reproductions, 7 double-page, 102 full-page, some with details on facing pages. The catalogue raisonné of Serge Diakonoff's body art in the appendix, pp. 128-142, is illustrated with 203 captioned, thumbnail, color reproductions of body painting works (1975-1984). The principal text is a transcription of a 1983 interview and panel discussion with Serge Diakonoff, led by journalist, Jacques Bofford on Radio Suisse Romande. Format: Publisher's deluxe brown linen, (not the standard green cloth), sewn with endpapers that reproduce a Diakonoff ballet set design for "Sleeping Beauty" ("La Belle au Bois Dormant") and color photographic jacket, its upper side reproducing a 1984 work with Miralda Rochat. Size: 319 x 242 mm (12.56 x 9.53 inches). Serge Diakonoff: A leading body artist, he created his first body painting works in 1975. He contributed designs for Bob Fosse's "All That Jazz" (1979) and was Art Director for "L'Ogre" (1986). His body art, influenced by African masks, incorporates body painting, costume, lighting and set design and explores themes from myths and archetypes, in part, by transposing mythic figures and landscapes onto the human figure and face, giving physical manifestation to the unconscious. On body art he has said; "Peindre sur la peau, c'est encore peindre. Le modèle est le support de sa propre représentation, la toile, intermédiare entre le peintre et son modèle, a disparu." (Painting the skin of the body is, without question, painting. But the canvas that is an intermediary between the artist and the model has now disappeared.) Additional Images: by request.