John Baldessari and Laurence Sterne.

There is an edition of ‘The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentlemen’, written by Lawrence Sterne, printed by Arion Press with 39 photo-collage illustrations by John Baldessari in his own unique style. Discovered by coincidence after reading Baldessari’s obituary.

I have always liked the coloured circles on his photo-collages.

‘ I think what drives me is some elusive quality of trying to get something right.’

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‘you will no more be able to penetrate the moral of the next marbled page (motly emblem of my work!)’

From a Baldessari short film by the Tate and Sterne trying to explain his book.

You can never be too sure what Sterne is writing about. But it is great fun. Baldessari seemed to be having fun with his art and playing with how the collages can be composed, and messing around with story telling was Sterne’s genius. The marbled page his ‘motly emblem of my work!’

It appears in Volume III, on page 169. On the page opposite the marbling, Sterne wrote:

‘I tell you before-hand, you had better throw down the book at once, for without much reading, by which your reverence knows, I mean much knowledge, you will no more be able to penetrate the moral of the next marbled page (motly emblem of my work!) than the world with all its sagacity has been able to unraval the many opinions, transactions and truths which still lie mystically hid under the dark veil of the black one.’

It a being hand marbled page would be a different pattern in every book.

Heres the text that accompanies the Baldessari page at the top of this post.

‘And did you step in, to take a look at the grand picture in your way back?—’Tis a melancholy daub! my lord; not one principle of the pyramid in any one group!——and what a price!——for there is nothing of the colouring of Titian—the expression of Rubens—the grace of Raphael—the purity of Dominichino—the corregiescity of Corregio—the learning of Poussin—the airs of Guido—the taste of the Carrachis—or the grand contour of Angela.—Grant me patience, just Heaven!—Of all the cants which are canted in this canting world—though the cant of hypocrites may be the worst——the cant of criticism is the most tormenting!’