Stručni rad
Sechs schöne Bücher + Six Beaux Livres + Šest lijepih knjiga iliti Mvmmenschantz Des Todes
Mladen Radić
Sažetak
The work is inspired by the personal collection of the author, which was supposed to be the foundation of the private Museum of Fine Books, and whose realization was interrupted due to administrative obstacles. The very idea of the book as a museum and art object has been emphasized in several works by the author, so this is more a combination of beautiful and rare books as sources of new knowledge presented in a personal way, as the collection was created. Due to the size of the text and the amount of illustrations in this issue of the Osječki zbornik, we are publishing the second third of the paper.
The term “beautiful book” is often associated with Henry D. Kahnweiler, who in 1909 began publishing a series of books by famous avant-garde contemporary writers (Guillaume Apollinaire, Max Jacob, André Malraux, Erik Satie, Gertrude Stein, Tristan Tzara, Maurice de Vlaminck and others) illustrated by avant-garde contemporary painters (André Derain, Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, G. Braque, E. Lascaux, Juan Gris, Maurice de Vlaminck). On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of D.-H. Kahnweiler, a brilliant small catalog was published in 1959 at the Galerie Louise Leiris (November 13 - December 19, 1959). Its content, as well as Kahnweiler’s dedication to Ivo Steiner and his wife Odette Masson (maiden Cabalè), “made” me start a “crazy project” of collecting beautiful books. Well, some others as well!
The catalog of books entitled “LES LIVRES Surréalistes” / ainsi que LES PUBLICATIONS SURRÉALISTE / sont toujours en vente á la LIBRAIRIE JOSÉ CORTI (1931) is certainly special, not only in form and design, but especially in contemporary content.
The selection of books is not only a matter of important writers or authors of illustrations, famous painters at the time of printing titles or values as rare editions, but also two dedications to Ivo Steiner, brother of Croatian painter Milan, whose role in modern Croatian art remains to be explored.
The remaining four books are:
Paul Verlaine, “Parallèlement / Chanson pour elle”, (1936), “with five illustrations by Édouard Chimoto.
Tristan Tzara “Midis gagnés, poèmes” (1939), with six drawings by Henri Matisse.
Poems by Jacques Prévert and André Verdet under the common title “Histoires” (1950), with a cover illustration by Pierre Faucheux (dedication of Lili Masson to Ivo Steiner!).
“Nouvelles et récits” by Ernest Hemingway (1963), with cover by Paul Bonet and illustrations by M. Ciry (3 + 4) for the collection “Cinquante mille dollars” and “Dix indiens” by L. Coutaud (7 + 2) for the collection “Paradis perdu” and “La cinquième collone”, H. Ernia (6) for the collection “Les vertes collines d’Afrique” and A. Masson (10) for the collection “Mort dans l’apres midi”.
I chose “magic formula 6 + 6 + 6” as a selection from our small collection of beautiful books and publications to try to conjure up the term “beautiful book”, but also because the selected books have some links with our artists, writers, people and events, and who have left their mark on them in various ways. The printed content of books here is mostly just illustration to illustrations, and notes, dedications, covers, illustrations, information about the book as an object (number of pieces, type of paper, publisher, printer, price, etc.) are actually a topic or riddle to be solved.
Ključne riječi
beautiful book; illustration; artists; writers; type of paper; cover
Hrčak ID:
274895
URI
Datum izdavanja:
14.3.2022.
Posjeta: 717 *