THE FOUR SUITS by Alison Knowles, Tomas Schmidt, Benjamin Patterson and Philip Corner

Something Else Press, 1965 First edition, 192 pp., 6 1/4" X 9 1/2" Hardcover with original plastic dust wrapper.

Fine

Comprised of separate contributions from four artists, the sections contained within this book relate to each other through their position outside of “the conventional concept of the seven arts” in aesthetic practices devised by the artists. Alison Knowles’ section evolved from her performance piece #8 in a verbo-visual exploration of the letter “T” that unfolds through graphic arrangements involving teeth, trunks, and altered dictionary pages. Benjamin Patterson gathers together pseudo-scientific notes, which formulate a theory and process for a program of Perceptual Education Tools. Tomas Schmit offers a selection of instructions for performance pieces including an encyclopedic theatre and a set of options to act on instead of reading this book. In the final part, Philip Corner presents texts and drawings that relate to musical performance for the piano and groups of musicians, pushing the boundaries of traditional musical notation and composition.