JD'A – 4: ZARATHUSTRA — 1973

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ZARATHUSTRA | after | Richard Strauss | with respect to | Nietzsche | by | Joseph J. D’Ambrosio.

7 1/4 x 9 1/4 inches: [1–2]: blank, [3]: title, [4]: colophon, [5]: Prelude, [6–26]: images numbered 1 to 20 at outer lower corner, [27]: Zarathustra, [28]: blank, [odd 29 –55]: [#]/50 on bottom left, Z [1–14] title in center, signature in pencil ’73 on right, [even 30–56] blank.

Signed Images:

[29]: Z–1 Sunrise, [31]: Z–2 Birth, [33]; Z–3 Pathos, [35]: Z4–Mayhem, [37]: Z–5 First Cleansing, [39]: Z–6 Ardor, [41]; Z–7 Copulation, [43]: Z8–Separation, [45]: Z–9 Masturbation, [47]: Z–10 Second Cleansing [49]; Z–11 Knowledge, [51]: Z12–Strength, [53: Z–13 Tenacity, [55]: Z–14 Purpose

Colophon: This story graphic has been produced completely by hand: serigraph stencils, techniques and printing; block prints cut and executed; type set and printed on an Adana flatbed press. Bound and executed at thirty-eight twenty-four Alta Vista Terrace, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

This is copy number

[#]/50

of an edition of fifty copies

[signature of Joseph J. D’Ambrosio]

Joseph J. D'Ambrosio

Grateful acknowledgment to Grey Burkhart for reference material

©1973 Joseph J. D'Ambrosio

Binding: is a white fabric serigraphed in brown allowing the white of the cloth to create the image of outstretched hands reaching skyward pleading for salvation. This wraps around the book like a stiff folder.

From 19 Years and Counting:

In Zarathustra, I attempted to transfer the musical sound of Strauss' tone-poem into graphic images. Since the book was meant to "freeze" the sound of music rather than interpret Nietzsche's written words, there is very little letterpress printing in it.

Its pages are filled with graphic imagery.

I Having begun with a musical play-in-book-form premise, this experiment was intended to remove the words from that premise and present a ballet form (visuals and music only) in the book medium. I was quite pleased with the graphics in Zarathustra. But, upon its completion, I felt that if 

I continued in this direction, I would no longer consider my work to be within the book medium. The primary purpose of a book is to communicate through the printed word, and when the words are removed, what remains is essentially an art structure. I know this very point is the basis for much conflict within the Book Arts movement at this time (1988), but I made my decision in 1973 based upon my experience with Zarathustra, and I continue to abide by this decision. This does not mean that I will never produce an art structure. It means that my work is flexible and if I produce an art structure, I will label it that and not call it a book. Others may do as they wish. An artist must have the freedom to express and not yield to convention. However, a work must be justifiable within its medium if it expects to be taken seriously. Upon requests, I painted three acrylic paintings of prints from Zarathustra. They are: Z-1 Sunrise; Z-2 Birth, and Z-7 Copulation.

Originally, seven paintings were planned, but the imagery better expressed itself in the print medium (for which it was truly intended), and I abandoned the project.

From A Memoir of Book Design:

Zarathustra was planned to be the last book on my path to a complete visual representation of a tale. Subsequent books were meant to be entirely wordless. Consequently there is some, but little, of the printed word within it. The visuals are all representations according to Richard Strauss's musical interpretation and do not refer to the writing of Nietzsche, who initially created the character of Zarathustra. I felt that Strauss better understood and conveyed the essence of that character through music than did the person who created it in literature. In the written word, there always seems to be an ambiguous interpretation of what Nietzsche was really trying to communicate. Perhaps this stems from the fact that the German must be translated into English, and the translation destroys some of the essence of the piece. In music, no translation is necessary because music communicates the same emotion beyond any language barrier.

The work opens with a series of graphics titled "Prelude," which are meant to evoke the image of the beginning of time and the creation of the earth. They are all created within the serigraphic method of printmaking. Hence all of the imagery is composed of flat, solid-colored shapes. The shapes are not unlike those that I used in the copulation sequence of Krome, where the "big bang" is likened to a sexual ejaculation. This is followed by the title page, which bears the opening words of Schiller's "Ode To Joy" in German. The story (according to Strauss, not Nietzsche) follows in fourteen separate graphic prints, each utilizing a blend of water-based woodblock inks simultaneously with oil-based silkscreen inks. The two mediums clearly evince two different surface textures and give the illusion of depth. They are a stark contrast to the flat silkscreen surface of the preceding prints. Each print bears its successive number preceded by the letter “Z."

Z-1 Sunrise

This print is meant to signify the importance of the earth (the soil, not the orb), the sun, and the air we breathe, to the communicated message. It lays the groundwork for the ensuing conflict between Zarathustra, who is born of the dirt from this planet, and its inhabitants. The stark contrast between dark and light within the imagery is intended to highlight the drama of that conflict before it even arrives.The reader has been so enlightened.

Z-2 Birth

Zarathustra is whelped from the soil of Mother Earth. The human male form is depicted as energy waves emanating from a break in the ground. Since at this point his rendering is totally lineal, one can see through his form. An area of his brain frames a distant sun in the background. No genitalia are present to indicate that the figure is a male; however, the features are clearly masculine. 

Z-3 Pathos

Ashen gray humanoid forms clearly from the impoverished class look upon what they hope will be their savior, Zarathustra, who is in a pit beneath a tree. His umbilical cord, one of the tree's roots, is still attached to his navel. The figures are so gaunt that it is not clear whether they are seeking supplication or if they wonder if he is food to eat. Their naiveté is important to justify their ensuing attitude toward him. In the background and above the figures, leafless tree branches in the form of a sympathetic woman hover over the scene.

Z-4 Mayhem

Zarathustra, his body still only a shell of energy waves, is as one within a tree trunk. He is clearly yet a young man. His umbilical cord is still attached to the roots of the tree. His cord is unintentionally being severed by the axe of a warrior who is in the act of slicing his opponent in half. Zarathustra's umbilical cord just happens to be in the same trajectory. Thus Zarathustra is released to the world of men by the evil that they do.

Z-5 First Cleansing

Zarathustra, still an energy form, washes the placenta of earthen clay from his form under a waterfall. This print is an experiment in split fonts of color. A split font is the use of more than one color of ink (usually two being pulled across the surface of the silkscreen at one sweep of the squeegee. The colors blend where they meet evincing a derivative color slowly fading into the origin of each. One split font is spread horizontally, and the other vertically, both utilizing the same exact colors. The effect is of a misty effusion.

Z-6 Ardor

Yet an energy form, and still hiding within the upper reaches of a tree branch system, Zarathustra watches a man and a woman below the tree in intimate and loving embrace. The tree now has a green leafy glow (where before the trees were leafless), and the surrounding color has become more intense. The implication is that he is learning all that he can about the world into which he has been thrust by observing its inhabitants and their behavioral practices in their environment.

Z-7 Copulation

Zarathustra's physical presence is not actually shown in this scene of a man and a woman tightly enmeshed and obviously in the act of copulating. If one relates the imagery of the character thus far through energy waves, one will associate him with the gyrating energy waves around, and emanating from, the hotly entwined couple. The implication is that Zarathustra partakes in the same sensation as the man and woman—including the final climax.

Z-8 Separation

A man and woman are bent over in a saddened state on either side of a dark-brown skull-like form, backs to each other, while at the base of the object Zarathustra's head and outstretched arms are reaching up to them in sympathy. The character is now exposed, in his learning pro-cess, to the bad times that may follow the good ones. After all, he became an intimate part of the two previously in Copulation. And he feels their pain. But at this time there is little he can do to help them. He needs more information and maturity before he can do that.

Z-9 Masturbation

Zarathustra watches as a single man spreads his seed upon the barren earth. The learning Zarathustra not only watches, but is part of the imagery, creating the explosion of semen at ejaculation. (Once again | give thanks to the graphic artwork of Edvard Munch, and in particular to the sperm-like forms which he originally created for the print titled Madonna.) The release of the human seed is the final step to

Zarathustra's goal and leads directly to the final cleansing.

Z-10 Second Cleansing

Zarathustra, now with the knowledge of humanity and all its frailties, becomes a physical part of the human race. (Once again, a bidirectional split font is used. Only this time a new solid earth color is used for the lower part of his body as he relinquishes his energy form and becomes a part of humankind)

Z-11 Knowledge

Now in his total human form, and armed with both the knowledge of the immortal and the mortal, Zarathustra makes his stance upon the earth. The almost intelligent scribbling in the dark blue sky above and beyond the blazing sunset refers to the unanswered questions that humans have been ever asking. They are represented as scribbles rather than intelligent words because the peoples of this world do not

speak in one tongue.

L-13 Tenacity

Zarathustra hangs precipitously from a cleaved earth as he expends his

energy in the salvation of humankind. The curious foam-like form below (biota) is growing, and human figures can barely be deciphered within it. A single sky scribbling is positioned only in that area of his fingertips clinging to the earth. It is applying pressure upon that already stressed area. It is intended that the scribble within the blue sky connote a mean and nasty look, because sacrifice is never a wonderful thing. The setting sun in the background backlights and highlights Zarathustra’s exhausted figure.

Z-14 Purpose

The upper half of Zarathustra's human body holds up the world while his lower half disperses into the foam-like human forms below. The savior is not dying, but becoming as one with the saved. However, it does induce his demise: "God is dead!”—Nietzsche.

The book is bound artistically within a stiff folder like object (more like a brochure than a pamphlet or a booklet), with a part of its front cover inserted into an opening in the other side of its wraparound (see page 25). This arrangement acts as a clasp to keep the covers closed. White fabric was serigraphed in one brown (earth) color, allowing the white of the cloth to create the image of outstretched hands reaching skyward pleading for salvation. The screen was prepared by drawing the outstretched hands with a grease pencil and then coating it with water-based LePages' glue. Mineral spirits washed away the grease pencil but not the glue, leaving the image intact. The printed cloth was then heat-sealed to one ply board for stiffness. The "Prelude" section is sewn as a single signature, while the graphic prints from Z-1 to Z-14 are held in place with linen tape. The book is presented in a Plexiglas slipcase so it can be protected and seen at the same time. The entire edition of fifty copies was never completely fabricated, but a majority were. This was a turning point in my career. I liked what I had done in the presentation of this work, but I was ambivalent and wondered if it could truly be called a "book," because of the missing text. 

I painted acrylic copies on canvas (or Masonite—| can't recall positively) of some of the prints in this book. I recall Z-1, Sunrise; Z-2, Birth; Z-3, Pathos; and Z-7, Copulation. I had planned to do more but was not pleased with the paintings because they looked too much like their counterparts, which are prints. Making a painting that resembles a print is something of a falsehood. It goes against my integrity, which I define as both honorable and a good use of one’s time. 

©Book Club of California