Traces Suspectes en Surface

West Islip, NY: Universal Limited Art Editions, 1978. First edition. Rauschenberg, Robert. Portfolio with 36 lithographs by Rauschenberg and text by Robbe-Grillet. Printed on specially made Twinrocker paper, with the watermark of the artist's and author's signatures, it comprises 31 pages plus the title page and 4 colophon pages, printed from 37 stones and 27 aluminum plates, numbered [1],1-31, I-IV.
20-1/2 x 26 3/16 inches (52 x 69 cm.) folded. Copy 34 of a total edition of 36, plus 6 A.P. copies (the colophon calls for six, but they are numbered through 7). Signed and dated by Rauschenberg and signed and numbered by Robbe-Grillet on each of the 31 pages, each carries the embossed folio number and publisher's seal. Fine condition in original red cloth clamshell box, designed by the artist, as issued. With two of the original aluminum offset plates on which Robbe-Grillet wrote the text, a set of ten proof pages on Twinrocker paper for the text before illustrations, and a sheet which Robbe-Grillet used for practice, before writing out the manuscript on the plates. The plates were returned to ULAE by Robbe-Grillet, and proofed before Rauschenberg responded to each group of text pages by creating his iluustrations. "Long enamored of French literature and language, [publisher] Tatyana Grosman attended a lecture by Alain Robbe-Grillet in April 1972. When the writer mentioned Robert Rauschenberg's work, Mrs. Grosman, already aware of stylistic similarities between the two, felt that a collaboration was fated. Two days later, it was underway. During the next four years, Mrs. Grosman sent offset plates to Paris and proofed and translated Robbe-Grillet's text in West Islip; Rauschenberg added images one chapter at a time. The completed pages were sent back to Robbe-Grillet with plates for the next chapter. It soon became clear that Robbe-Grillet was not working in the spirit of sympathetic collaboration but providing a massive text that presented great problems in page design. Rauschenberg responded with images that are much more aloof than in previous books yet responsive to the elegance of the text," Esther Sparks, Universal Limited Art Editions, pp. 447-459. "The title is police jargon, loosely meaning that things are not as they seem....To Robbe-Grillet's mysterious story of lost romance and murder in the city, Rauschenberg responded with a portrayal of everyday life, with supermarkets, underwear, and bicycles. Mrs Grosman saw both contributions as equally nostalgic and sad. 'The effect was a Last Year at Marienbad quality,' she said," Mary Lynn Kotz, Rauschenberg / Art and Life, (1990), p. 148.