Friday, July 15, 2011

La Prose du Transsiberian et de la Petite Jehanne de France, poem by Blaise Cendrars & artwork by Sonia Delaunay, facsimile of 1913 version, 2008, Yale University Press, New Haven




A really wonderful facsimile of the 1913 original that features Blaise Cendrar's free verse poem describing a real or imagined trip across Russia and printed in an assortment of type fonts and sizes. Combined with Delaunay's 'simultanist' abstract work this early artists' book still exudes the excitement and vitality of this collaboration between two important Paris-based pioneers of early 20th modernism.

Presented as a two-sided accordion with the artists' works on either side, the work then opens up further into a long single sheet in which the image and texts are brought together.  83.75" (H) x 7.5" (W).