Barbara Tetenbaum

Ode to a Grand Staircase (for Four Hands)

For their first collaboration, Julie Chen and Barbara Tetenbaum chose the music and words of French composer Erik Satie (1888–1925) as a creative springboard. Satie had the curious habit of writing odd texts for his musical compositions that were neither meant to be performed nor provide any specific directive to the musicians.

The book is a whimsical piece filled with vibrant color and playful shapes. Ode to a Grand Staircase was letterpress printed on Stonehenge paper and bound in a French-door structure with printed paper covers. The right and left-hand pages can be turned at varying rates, so each spread can be viewed as a whole or as an array of half-large combinations.

Artists: Barbara Tetenbaum and Julie Chen
Press: Flying Fish Press
Date: 2001
Number and Edition: 76 of 100
Size: 5.75” x 7.75”