Elaine Langerman ~ Washington, D.C.

Oh You Doll!
By Elaine Langerman
Washington, DC: Elaine Langerman, 2008. Open Edition.

2.5 x 4"; 8 pages. Single sheet folded. Printed on one side of an acid-free sheet.

Elaine Langerman: "Oh You Doll is a continuation of a series of painted/collaged wall works (10) that I exhibited back in January [2008] at a gallery near us. Seems like I am really getting involved in kids' stuff—illustrations of antique paper dolls, of found kids wherever they pop up, toys, and games. The background (all that pink) is a diagram of a pram that you can make by folding it over, thus making a 2-D object into a 3-D one. (Do you see the wheels on the back page?) Am I trying to recapture childhood images—or just having a bit of a romp?? It is kind of like doing a dance with all the parts coming together into a calibrated whole. I see the mood as somehow related to my Alice in Wonderland painting with all the personages moving around rhythmically and manically…. And there is the whole idea of dancing in mid-air, and of animals and humans dancing together."
$20

En/Unfolding
By Elaine Langerman
2006. One-of-a-Kind.

8 x 6"; 14 pages including cover and back. Collage and acrylic paintings in an exposed-spine sewn binding. Red sewn stab binding with glass bead accents. In blue cloth box.

Through paint and collage, Langerman explores the dual worlds of our existence posited by physicist, David Bohm - the invisible (enfolded) universe and the visible (unfolded) universe. For Bohm, all forms are manifestations of countless enfoldings and unfoldings between these two orders.

Langerman's no-frills page-by-page guide to the source of her images is available.
$2,500

Early Cunning
By Elaine Langerman
1997. One-of-a-Kind

9.5 x 11.5". Altered book with collage, cuts, acrylic & metallic paint. Sewn binding.

Elaine Langerman: "I being with a seed—a tiny germ of an idea which I let cook in my brain and psyche for a while. I begin to notice images in my environment—real things and pictures. I look through books, magazines—even catalogs, I watch TV, I talk to people. Perhaps I read some poetry or some mystical text. Then, it's off and running! First, perhaps, the cover is collaged using images scanned into the computer. Then the dialog with the idea and that first image. The images begin to unfold—in a very real sense creating themselves. Once the images are composed, I print them and construct the pages themselves, then add paint and varnish. Then they are bound together."
$475

Click image to enlarge

G-A-R-D-E-N
By Elaine Langerman
1996. One-of-a-Kind.

4 x 4 x 4.5"; 12 pages. Acrylic on 400 lb. black Arches paper. An accordion structure book. Accompanied by an acrylic painted board for the book to be displayed on.

A depiction of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Elaine Langerman: "I explore miracles – the miracle of memory, the miracle of dreams and the miracles described in fairy tales, poems and mystical interpretations of our history and beginnings. I make paintings, constructions and unique books."
$975

Flashbacks
By Elaine Langerman
1995. One-of-a-Kind.

5.75 x 5". Mixed media on Plasticraft. Six pages of eight images plus two cover images.

A cartoonish view of impending crises.
$150

Journey
By Elaine Langerman
Washington DC: Elaine Langerman, 1982. One-of-a-Kind.

6.6 x 6.75"; 7 leaves. Gouache on black paper. Bound in black felt.

Suzanne M. Singletary: "The book conceptually suits Langerman perfectly. An idea can be explored in successive images — incorporating the crucial notion of movement in time and space — while still maintaining a cohesive reading."

A simply told simple story: The first two panels, with precise diagrammatic symbols, suggest a sense of separation at journey's start (at least of this Journey); a two-page center spread signals the beginning of integration into a new landscape; two final panels indicate wholeness regained.
$225

The Fairy Tale
By Elaine Langerman
1998. One-of-a-Kind.

3.4 x 4.3". Mixed media with acrylic paints. Boards bound with gold colored twine.

Elaine Langerman: "As a child I always wanted to escape. I think my spirit always wanted to leave my body to travel to a realm beyond....Reading books carried me far, far away to places of enchantment where I could see magic. Making pictures and objects did the same thing. I neatly combine the two activities. I can create fascinating, alternative worlds by myself where anything I want can happen. I can create my own dreams...."
$625

Cahier de Musique
By Elaine Langerman
1990. One-of-a-Kind.

2.5 x 9.1 x 2.25". Mixed media using acrylic paints. Sculptural book.

Elaine Langerman: "The word 'cahier' is the French word for notebooks. I was reading about Satie at the time, and I believe he was making what he called 'cahiers de musique'--hence the name."
$400

My Angel
By Elaine Langerman
1989. One-of-a-Kind.

2.75 x 5". Mixed media sculptural book.

"I wish to create realms of enchantment for the heart where it might find play and advenure. My wish is to coax the mind to give way to the spirit so that it may perceive and create in new ways, so that it might escape the illusion of limitation. Ah, to dance, to evolve through contemplation and joy!" (From "Women in the Book")
$425

Book of Colors
By Elaine Langerman
1994. One-of-a-Kind.

Six plex disc, each 8" in diameter. Mixed media on plex with leather cord & wooden bead to string together. Each of the pages is numbered on the face.

Elaine Langerman: "With Book of Colors I was exploring ways of making a book, both in form and content. Does a book have to be bound? How? Do the pages have to be rectangular or can they be round? How have other cultures treated the book form? Do their books look like ours? Are they made of the same sorts of materials? Does a book have to be bound by ideas of sequence and the passage of time?

"And how could books be made so that the viewer could see them all at once, instead of having to turn pages—rarely possible in a gallery setting--which is how the book was being presented when it was made.

"I wished, too, to explore the limits of imagery and how it could be used without text or limited text to form a book. And how abstract shapes and design could suggest cosmic space outside time so that a sense of floating and detachment could be depicted. The viewer could be a part of but apart from what she saw--working rather like a mandala to induce a meditative state."
$975

Au Risque de Tomber
By Elaine Langerman
Washington DC: Elaine Langerman, 1983. One-of-a-Kind.

5.4 x 7.5"; 10 leaves. Gouache pencil and crayon on Black Arches paper. Bound in black cloth.

Eight original abstract studies, colorful morsels on a black page, each identified by a French phrase.

Elaine Langerman: "Why do I make books? From the time I would beg my father to read me the funny papers, reading and books were magical to me. A small object, held on my lap had infinite power to take me to a place where angry thoughts and things didn't happen — or more important, didn't happen to me. So, over time, in the midst of my sculpture and painting activities, I would pause to make a small book containing stars, fish, or simply marks."
$225

Les Bois de Roses
By Elaine Langerman
Washington DC: Elaine Langerman, 1983. One-of-a-Kind.

5.5 x 6.8"; ten leaves. Gouache images on Black Arches paper. Handsewn book bound with black linen.

Ten original studies, colorful abstracts on a black page, each identified by a French phrase: "les bois de roses," "sous l'azur," etc.
$225