The Last Dinner Party (3 Volumes)
[Portland and Freeport, ME]: Carrie Scanga and Rebecca Goodale, 2015. Hard Cover. Fine binding. Item #9871
Quarto, 10-3/4" x 10-3/4." [10], [8], [10] pp., illus. Limited edition, number 5 of 5 copies, in addition to 2 artists' proofs. Signed by Scanga and Goodale. 3 accordion-bound books, each in different colored cloth-covered boards and with hand-colored etching in recess on the front board. Comprises hand-colored, intaglio-printed, drypoint etchings, with added paste paper pennants hung on a line and strung between pages of the second book. All housed in clamshell box. A fine copy.
This collaboration between Rebecca Goodale and Carrie Scanga continues the tale of three friends introduced in their earlier work Two or Three Friends (2008). This is a poignant exploration of friendship, transformation, and the passage of time within an invented arctic landscape. The first and final volumes illustrate the arrival and departure in somewhat muted tones, while the central volume is a rich illustration of the party itself—a long table of all the children and animals at a great feast. Pennants found only on a single page of the other volumes, are strung through the entirely of this volume, animating the narrative scene. Each of these volumes can be paged through or fully expanded to varying effect.
The artists, in a statement, write of the process and context of the work: "The Last Dinner Party Made over two years of collaborative work—with the artists sitting side by side at studio tables—the project spans personal milestones: one artist became a mother, while the other experienced the loss of her own. These life events echo in the introduction of a baby panda character, suggesting new beginnings and future hope. The artists traveled between their studios in Freeport and Portland, Maine to print these pages, with the final bindings made in Eaton, New Hampshire and Freeport, Maine."
Price: $3,500.00