Paroles Peintes. Books from Mark Bashmakov鈥檚 Collection
This event is the second Hermitage exhibition to feature items from the collection of Mark Ivanovich Bashmakov, an academician of the Russian Academy of Education. At the same time it is the second exhibition devoted to the history of the artist鈥檚 book, or livre d鈥檃rtiste, as a distinct artistic phenomenon.
The livre d鈥檃rtiste is not simply an illustrated book. It is an expensive rare publication aimed at the connoisseur bibliophile, the work of an artist (painter, sculptor or graphic artist) and not a professional illustrator. Such books are pieces of 鈥渉igh鈥� art belonging to the realm of inspired creativity. In the West the artist鈥檚 book has long since become the object of particular collecting activity. In Russia the market for such publications is only in the process of forming. Books of this sort appeared in the Hermitage as far back as the 1960s, but the systematic collection of livres d鈥檃rtiste is today primarily the province of private individuals.
Mark Bashmakov鈥檚 collection, one of the largest in Russia, numbers around 500 books and includes works by all the leading 20th-century exponents. Items from the collection were displayed in the Hermitage between September 2013 and February 2014. The organization of a follow-up exhibition, which was intended from the outset, was made even more justified by the substantial expansion of the collection in the interim. As on the previous occasion, alongside books from Mark Bashmakov鈥檚 collection the exhibition includes publications from the Hermitage鈥檚 stocks 鈥� two works by Marc Chagall, Jazz by Henri Matisse and pages from the same artist鈥檚 Portuguese Letters.
In chronological terms, the exhibition is a continuation of the previous one, which was devoted to the early stages in the history of the artist鈥檚 book. The majority of the works included date from a period between the mid-1940s and mid-1970s.
The main accent of the exhibition is on the variety of individual conceptions, methods and approaches in the design of the book as a visual object. Particular attention is devoted to the creations of members of the classic avant-garde (Braque, Matisse, Miro, Masson, Picasso, Arp), with whose activities the blossoming of the livre d鈥檃rtiste in the post-war years is primarily connected.
The artist鈥檚 book is the result of a complex collaboration, in which an important role is played by the publisher. Quite often he determines the final look of the book, becoming in effect the artist鈥檚 co-creator. On account of this, the exhibition organizers strove to present a multiplicity of publishing strategies (Aim茅 Maeght, T茅riade, Iliazd, Philippe Gonin, Louis Broder, Pierre Lecuire).
Of fundamental significance for the livre d鈥檃rtiste is the 鈥渋nteraction鈥� of word and image, author and artist, since such books represent an encounter between two talents of comparable magnitude. The exhibition presents a variety of conceptions of the book as a verbal-and-visual whole and particular significance attaches to examples, characteristic for the period, of a 鈥渄ialogue鈥� between artists and their poet contemporaries, including different artists with one and the same author. For example, Paul Eluard鈥檚 verses were illustrated in the 1950s by Fernand L茅ger, Joan Miro, Roger Chastel, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. A separate group is made up of books with texts written by the artists themselves: Marc Chagall鈥檚 Cirque; Jean Cocteau鈥檚 Orph茅e, Le Corbusier鈥檚 Le Po猫me de l'Angle Droit and Fernand L茅ger鈥檚 Cirque.
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This event is the second Hermitage exhibition to feature items from the collection of Mark Ivanovich Bashmakov, an academician of the Russian Academy of Education. At the same time it is the second exhibition devoted to the history of the artist鈥檚 book, or livre d鈥檃rtiste, as a distinct artistic phenomenon.
The livre d鈥檃rtiste is not simply an illustrated book. It is an expensive rare publication aimed at the connoisseur bibliophile, the work of an artist (painter, sculptor or graphic artist) and not a professional illustrator. Such books are pieces of 鈥渉igh鈥� art belonging to the realm of inspired creativity. In the West the artist鈥檚 book has long since become the object of particular collecting activity. In Russia the market for such publications is only in the process of forming. Books of this sort appeared in the Hermitage as far back as the 1960s, but the systematic collection of livres d鈥檃rtiste is today primarily the province of private individuals.
Mark Bashmakov鈥檚 collection, one of the largest in Russia, numbers around 500 books and includes works by all the leading 20th-century exponents. Items from the collection were displayed in the Hermitage between September 2013 and February 2014. The organization of a follow-up exhibition, which was intended from the outset, was made even more justified by the substantial expansion of the collection in the interim. As on the previous occasion, alongside books from Mark Bashmakov鈥檚 collection the exhibition includes publications from the Hermitage鈥檚 stocks 鈥� two works by Marc Chagall, Jazz by Henri Matisse and pages from the same artist鈥檚 Portuguese Letters.
In chronological terms, the exhibition is a continuation of the previous one, which was devoted to the early stages in the history of the artist鈥檚 book. The majority of the works included date from a period between the mid-1940s and mid-1970s.
The main accent of the exhibition is on the variety of individual conceptions, methods and approaches in the design of the book as a visual object. Particular attention is devoted to the creations of members of the classic avant-garde (Braque, Matisse, Miro, Masson, Picasso, Arp), with whose activities the blossoming of the livre d鈥檃rtiste in the post-war years is primarily connected.
The artist鈥檚 book is the result of a complex collaboration, in which an important role is played by the publisher. Quite often he determines the final look of the book, becoming in effect the artist鈥檚 co-creator. On account of this, the exhibition organizers strove to present a multiplicity of publishing strategies (Aim茅 Maeght, T茅riade, Iliazd, Philippe Gonin, Louis Broder, Pierre Lecuire).
Of fundamental significance for the livre d鈥檃rtiste is the 鈥渋nteraction鈥� of word and image, author and artist, since such books represent an encounter between two talents of comparable magnitude. The exhibition presents a variety of conceptions of the book as a verbal-and-visual whole and particular significance attaches to examples, characteristic for the period, of a 鈥渄ialogue鈥� between artists and their poet contemporaries, including different artists with one and the same author. For example, Paul Eluard鈥檚 verses were illustrated in the 1950s by Fernand L茅ger, Joan Miro, Roger Chastel, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. A separate group is made up of books with texts written by the artists themselves: Marc Chagall鈥檚 Cirque; Jean Cocteau鈥檚 Orph茅e, Le Corbusier鈥檚 Le Po猫me de l'Angle Droit and Fernand L茅ger鈥檚 Cirque.
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