Livres d’ artiste are, essentially, books illustrated by well-known authors. This genre was introduced by Ambroise Vollard who, beginning with Paul Verlaine’s Parallelement illustrated by Pierre Bonnard in 1900, commissioned a range of texts illustrated by famous artists such as Picasso and Braque. Other art dealers soon followed in this trend. Livres d’ artiste were, and are, intended as collectible, limited edition, luxury items. They employ specialised printing techniques on high quality paper, and often left unbound so that the purchaser can frame or bind the pages as they desire.
Traditionally, the reproduction of images in illustrated books was carried out by a master craftsman, not the original illustrator. In livres d’ artiste, the artist works in close collaboration with the printer, or works directly with the printing device. There also seems to be a different intention on the artist’s part in livres d’ artiste, in that they show a deeper engagement with the text rather than mere, literal illustration. William Cole notes that “Ideal illustrations do not merely reflect the text, but also the artist’s profound understanding thereof.” (1992, p. 379) Perhaps this is why Matisse, in illustrating James Joyce’s Ulysses drew scenes from Homer’s original Odyssey, in an attempt to show how Joyce’s chapters were loosely based on scenes from the ancient epic. On the other hand, it might just be that Matisse didn’t actually read Joyce’s work. One owner of copy of Ulysses signed by Joyce and Matisse explains that “Only about 12 exist, because Joyce realized during the signing that Matisse illustrated Homer's Odyssey and not the action of his book, and stormed off.” (Curran, 2009)
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| Some illustrations from Joyce's Ulysses, illustrated by Matisse. |
This episode highlights an important observation about livres d’ artiste: the prominence of the artist, who often overshadows the original author and text, and the contribution of the editor/publisher. In a review of several important exhibitions of livres d’ artiste, William Cole argues that
…they failed to tackle the main difficulty posed by these books: coming to terms with the intellectual and esthetic relationship between image and text… Considering textual questions in more than a cursory manner, furthermore, would take up untold pages of catalogue space, to say nothing of the time that would be spent actually reading the books. It’s far easier, of course, - for museums and collectors alike – to indiscriminately favor books by prominent artists… Simply stated, we systematically ignore an integral aspect of each book in particular, and of the entire genre in general. (1992, p. 380)
Cole also points out the undervalued role of the illustrator, as compared to the painter or sculptor who comes to illustration having made his name elsewhere. What sells these books is the name of the artist-illustrator, people who are household names, and whose illustrations, therefore, must be good thanks to the modern cult of celebrity. Cole notes with disapproval the tendency to “glorify artists over art, determining quality not by examining the product itself, but rather by looking at the signature it bears.” (1992, p. 379) This, of course, relates to almost all genres of art, not just livres d’ artiste.
A final thought must be given to the status of livres d’ artiste as books. Johanna Drucker notes that, in comparison with other artists’ books, the physical structure of a livre d’ artiste is relatively conventional:
This is perhaps one of the most important distinguishing criteria of the two forms, since artist’s books are almost always self-conscious about the structure and meaning of the book as a form. For instance, the standard distinction between image and text, generally on facing pages, is maintained in most livres d’ artistes. (1995, p 4)
In summary then, livres d’ artiste maintain the traditional book form of text and image on separate, facing pages. Artists’ books are more likely to show an examination and subversion of the integral physical form of a book. One notable exception to this rule might be the way in which livres d’ artiste were often packaged: as separate, stacked pages in a containing box and wrapper, allowing the owner to frame or bind as desired. My argument would be that a livre d’ artiste remains a book if all the pages stay together, in order, bound or unbound. This way they can still convey the information they were intended to, all of the pages are related and form a whole. If they are taken apart, and pages are framed individually, this wholeness is compromised, information is not conveyed it in its completeness, and it no longer functions as a book.
Sources:
Cole, W., “The Book and the Artist: Rethinking the Traditional Order”, Word and Image, 8.4, 1992, pp. 378-381.
Curran, M., Various images of James Joyce’s Ulysses, illustrated by Matisse, 2009, Flickr, Yahoo!7, 2011. Accessed April-May, 2011: http://www.flickr.com/photos/abinka/3291706863/in/photostream/
Drucker, J., “The Artist’s Book as Idea and Form”, The Century of Artists’ Books, New York: Granary, 1995, pp. 1-19.
