ASPEN MAGAZINE
Volume 1, Number 1
The Black Box Issue

Phyllis Johnson (editor)

Phyllis Johnson (editor): ASPEN MAGAZINE Number 1 - THE BLACK BOX. New York: Roaring Fork Press, 1965. First edition. A very good hinged box containing Nine unnumbered items, including advertisements folder. The black box is lightly rubbed and distressed to each corner, with varying amounts of splitting and chipping. Box contents are near-fine -- lightly handled. See contents listed below. Designed by George Lois, Tom Courtos, and Ralph Tuzzo.

For the uninitiated, ASPEN called itself a multimedia magazine of the arts and was originally published from 1965 to 1971. Each issue of Aspen was delivered to subscribers in a box, which contained a variety of media: printed matter in different formats, phonograph recordings, and even a reel of Super-8 film.

Aspen was conceived by Phyllis Johnson, a former editor for Women's Wear Daily and Advertising Age. While wintering in Aspen, Colorado, she got the idea for a multimedia magazine, designed by artists, that would showcase "culture along with play." So in the winter of 1965, she published her first issue. "We wanted to get away from the bound magazine format, which is really quite restrictive," said Johnson. Each issue had a new designer and editor. "Aspen," Johnson said, "should be a time capsule of a certain period, point of view, or person." The subject matter of issue number 1 and issue number 2 stayed close to the magazine's namesake ski spa, with features on Aspen's film and music festivals, skiing, mountain wildlife, and local architecture.

Andy Warhol and David Dalton broke that mold with issue number 3, the superb Pop Art issue, devoted to New York art and counterculture scenes. Quentin Fiore designed issue number 4, a McLuhanesque look at our media-made society. The next issue, a double issue number 5+6, was an imaginative, wide-ranging look at conceptual art, minimalist art, and postmodern critical theory. Issue number 6A, a freebie sent to ever-patient subscribers, was a review of the performance art scene centered at New York's Judson Gallery. Next came issue number 7, exploring new voices in British arts and culture. Issue number 8, designed by George Maciunas and edited by Dan Graham, was dominated by artists of the Fluxus group. Issue number 9 plumbed the art and literature of the psychedelic drug movement. The last ASPEN, issue number 10, was devoted to Asian art and philosophy and is not included in this set.

If Aspen was an art director's dream, it was also an advertiser's nightmare. The ads, stashed at the bottom of the box, were easily ignored. And although Aspen was supposed to publish quarterly, in reality the publication date of each issue was as much of a surprise as the contents. "All the artists are such shadowy characters," publisher Johnson said, "that it takes months to track them down." After issue 5+6, there were no more ads in the magazine.

Perhaps Aspen was a folly, but it was a vastly pleasurable one, with a significant place in art history. The list of contributors included some of the most interesting artists of the 20th Century. And as an exemplar of creative publishing, Aspen was a wonder. Its contents, however, are all but lost: few copies of Aspen have survived.

ASPEN No. 1: The Black Box Contents: Nine unnumbered items, including advertisements folder. Designed by George Lois, Tom Courtos, and Ralph Tuzzo. Published 1965 by Roaring Fork Press, NYC.

CONTENTS:

Box. Black hinged box, 9-1/2 by 12-1/2 by 3/4 inches, printed with large letter A. Contains the following seven pieces.

Jazz: A Cool Duel. Three perspectives on jazz, from three active musicians: "In Praise of Dixieland" by Freddie Fisher; "In Defense of Latter-Day Jazz" by Jon Hendricks; "In Explanation of All Jazz" by Chuck Israels.

Flexi-Disc Phonograph recording. Two sides of jazz. Side A: "St. James Infirmary Blues" performed by Peanuts Hucko, Yank Lawson, Clancy Hayes, Lou Stein, Lou McGarrity, and Morey Field, taped at the 1964 Aspen Jazz Party. Side B: "Israel" by the Bill Evans Trio, from Verve 8613, "Bill Evans Trio '65". Almost every issue of Aspen included at least one phonograph recording. In all, the magazine issued 13 flexi-discs showcasing 24 artists who ran the gamut of avant garde literature, art, and sonic experimentation. Except for two recordings ‹ a jam by the Bill Evans Trio and a reading by William S. Burroughs ‹ all were made expressly for Aspen.

Ski-Roaming, Lift-Shunning, Mountain-Touring. Denis Higgins and John Henry Auran on the pleasures of cross-country skiing.

A Sanctuary for Deer, Peacocks, and People. Peggy Clifford visits Stillwater ranch, home of architect-planner Frederic Benedict.

The Hide-and-Seek Bird of the Timberline. Timothy Thomas and Tony Gauba on the white-tailed ptarmigan.

Configurations of the New World. Extracts from thirteen papers presented at the 15th annual International Design Conference in Aspen. Includes excerpts from "Implications of Population Changes" by Philip M. Hauser ; "New Technologies and Institutional Change" by Robert G.W. Theobald; "The Human Imagination in the New Age" by Rev. William F. Lynch; "To Build Is Everything or Nothing Is Built" by Konrad Wachsman; "Columbia ‹ A Garden to Grow People" by James W. Rouse; "The Victory of Technique over Content" by Jan C. Rowan; "The New Conservation Can Succeed" by Stewart L. Udall; "The New Scale" by Arthur Drexler; "Lausanne 1964 Exposition ‹ An Experiment in Planning" by Peter Blake; "U.S. ‹ Us" by George Nelson & Co.; "The Interrelationships between Ethics and Power in Design" by Philip Rosenthal; "The New Motivations of Leadership in Industry" by David Finn and "Urban Transportation in Perspective" by Martin Wohl.

A letter from Phyllis Johnson. A letter to subscribers from publisher Phyllis Johnson.

9. Our Ad Gallery, a black folder, 9-1/8 by 12 inches. Encloses a color booklet, 26pp, 3-7/8 by 8-5/8 inches, for Fabergé "Make-Op" cosmetics; a color sheet for Grant's scotch, 9 by 12 inches; a folded color sheet for Xerox, 17 by 11 inches; a black and white sheet for Adele Simpson, 8-3/4 by 10-5/8 inches; a green and white sheet for the Seven Arts Book Society, 8-7/8 by 10-1/2 inches; and Paul Rand (Designer/Typographer): THE IBM PAVILION [NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR 1964 - 65]. Armonk, NY: International Business Machines Corporation, n.d. Original edition. A fine, perfect-bound booklet in stiff, printed wrappers. 8.5 X 8 perfect-bound booklet with 36 pages printed in four-color throughout. Text, photography and diagrams acting as a guidebook to the IBM Pavilion. The pavilion was designed by the Office of Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen Associates. An interesting artifact from the early days of one of the most successful Corporate Design Progams in history: when IBM decided they needed to update their look, they turned the work over to Paul Rand, Charles Eames, George Nelson, Edgar Kaufmann and Eliot Noyes. They did a good job.

Price: $400.00
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