Waitress [Signed]. - Allen Jones & Tim Street Porter

JONES, Allen & Tim STREET-PORTER.
Waitress. [Signed].
First edition. Square 4to. Half-bound in green Niger and handmade green marble boards in slipcase. 25 monochrome photographs by Street Porter and 25 tipped-in colour lithographs. From an edition of 125 copies only. This copy signed and numbered by the artist. London: Matthew Miller Dunbar, 1972.
Slipcase light worn at the edges. A near fine copy.

Extraordinary artist book by Allen Jones and Tim Street-Porter. The preface of the book describes its contents straightforwardly as ‘A pictorial essay following one waitress through many restaurants’. What follows is essentially the document of an erotic performance piece assembling beautifully composed portraits of Allen Jones’s then-wife Janet wearing a latex outfit designed by John Sutcliffe of Atomise. The ‘waitress’ appears staged in many classic restaurant interiors across London including Fortnum and Mason, Rules restaurant and even a Wimpy Bar. Photographs by Tim Street-Porter are interspersed by tipped-in lithographs showing the waitress of the title in various poses. The book object is a beautiful production bound in striking handmade green marbled covers, perhaps reminiscent of a fancy restaurant menu. A highly scarce, incredible artist book as well as an amazing document of 1970s London.