"Le Trésor Artistique de la France": A Representative Example of the ‘Livre-Spécimen’ at the Turn of the 1880s (original) (raw)
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History of Photography, Volume 31, Number 1, Spring 2007, ISSN 0308-7298
The livre d'artiste in Twentieth-Century France
French Studies, 2009
Ste´phane MallarmeÁ recent exhibition at the British Library, Breaking the Rules (2007-08), explored early-twentieth-century avant-garde journals and books as a space of experimentation and subversion. The exhibition highlighted the creation of a new aesthetics juxtaposing visual and verbal elements, from Guillaume Apollinaire's calligrammes and Futurist poem-paintings to Dada and constructivist journals, surrealist book objects and livres d'artistes. The term livre d'artiste will be used here to designate various forms of the twentieth-century book in France as a collaboration between poets and painters or texts and images. Given the multiple origin of the livre d'artiste, critical studies are situated at the intersection of several disciplines: the history and technique of the book, art history and criticism, literary studies and semiotics. Three key issues dominate critical debate on the livre d'artiste, relating to its definition (limits and legibility) and historical development (from the livre illustre´to the livre objet); its production (the material book); and its interpretation (relations between words and images). 1 Definitions: from 'livre illustre´' to 'livre objet' Until the end of the nineteenth century, the descriptive or imitative model -Horace's ut pictura poesis -predominated in the practices and accounts of book illustration. Priority was given to the text, the illustrator, usually a professional engraver, providing a visual equivalent of a theme or episode of the narrative. Traditional illustration has been considered as a 'meta-text [. . .] a means of "writing" upon another text that makes it legible in different ways', translating or paraphrasing the text. 2 This logocentric conception of the illustrated book
Etat present. The livre d'artiste in twentieth-century France
Ste´phane MallarmeÁ recent exhibition at the British Library, Breaking the Rules (2007-08), explored early-twentieth-century avant-garde journals and books as a space of experimentation and subversion. The exhibition highlighted the creation of a new aesthetics juxtaposing visual and verbal elements, from Guillaume Apollinaire's calligrammes and Futurist poem-paintings to Dada and constructivist journals, surrealist book objects and livres d'artistes. The term livre d'artiste will be used here to designate various forms of the twentieth-century book in France as a collaboration between poets and painters or texts and images. Given the multiple origin of the livre d'artiste, critical studies are situated at the intersection of several disciplines: the history and technique of the book, art history and criticism, literary studies and semiotics. Three key issues dominate critical debate on the livre d'artiste, relating to its definition (limits and legibility) and historical development (from the livre illustre´to the livre objet); its production (the material book); and its interpretation (relations between words and images). 1
Images for Sale: Cards and Colours at the Photothèque of the Musée de l'Homme
Max Planck Institute - Photo-Objects. On the materiality of Photographs and Photo-Archives in the Humanities and Sciences, 2020
By examining the case of the Photothèque of the Musée de l’Homme created in 1938 and its original material conception, this paper wishes to question the values attached to photographs and the means by which these photographs acquire said values. The study of the materiality of photographic objects, which has been promoted by the works of Elizabeth Edwards in particular, undoubtedly offers a good entry point into these issues. Researches conducted along this line have highlighted a number of mechanisms that bring scientific and historical values to images. However, they have too often overlooked another aspect: the commercial value of images...
Decorative Painting and Politics in France, 1890-1914
2014
benefit to me, especially in the final stages-as were his careful and generous (re)readings of the text. Susan Siegfried and Michèle Hannoosh were also early mentors, first offering inspiring coursework and then, as committee members, advice and comments at key stages. Their feedback was such that I always wished I had solicited more, along with Michèle's tea. Josh Cole's seminar gave me a window not only into nineteenth-century France but also into the practice of history, and his kind yet rigorous comments on the dissertation are a model I hope to emulate. Betsy Sears has also been an important source of advice and encouragement. The research and writing of this dissertation was funded by fellowships and grants from the Georges Lurcy Foundation, the Rackham Graduate School at the University of Michigan, the Mellon Foundation, and the Getty Research Institute, as well as a Susan Lipschutz Award. My research was also made possible by the staffs at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Institut nationale d'Histoire de l'Art, the Getty Research Library, the Musée des arts décoratifs/Musée de la Publicité, and the Musée Maurice Denis, iii among other institutions. Special thanks go to a number of individuals who provided particular assistance. I would like to express my gratitude to the late Françoise Cachin for allowing me access to the Signac Archives and to Marina Ferretti-Bocquillon for devoting her time to those archival visits and to subsequent questions and requests, as well as to Charlotte Liébert Hellman for related permission requests. At the Musée Maurice Denis, Marie El Caïdi could not have been more welcoming and informative, while Fabienne Stahl, working nearby on the artist's catalogue raisonnée, has been generous both with information and images. Others I would like to thank for research assistance are Michèle Jasnin and Virginie Vignon at the Musée de la Publicité, Anne-Marie Sauvage at the BN's Département des estampes et de la photographie, as well as Laurence Camous and François-Bernard Michel. I would also like to take the opportunity to highlight three professional opportunities that played a particularly strong role in furthering my reflection, and the people who made those opportunities possible. New Directions in Neo-Impressionism, organized by Tania Woloshyn and Anthea Callen at Richmond, the American International University in London on November 20, 2010 led to an issue of the same name in RIHA Journal, edited by Woloshyn and Anne Dymond. Their feedback on my submission, along with that of Robyn Roslak was instrumental in shaping the core of chapter three (which also benefitted from editing by Regina Wenninger). Having welcomed my attendance at sessions of her graduate seminar, Ségolène Le Men kindly invited me to contribute to a stimulating Journée d'étude (Jules Chéret, un pionnier à la iv croisée de l'art décoratif et de l'affiche) at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs on October 20, 2010, she co-organized with Réjane Bargiel in conjunction with the museum's exhibition of the artist's work. This experience, as well as the exhibition itself and its catalog/catalogue raisonnée, helped me to define the argument(s) of chapter two. It also led to many fruitful discussions on posters and other subjects with Karen Carter. Chapter two has also benefitted from thinking and research prompted by my contribution to a forthcoming volume edited by Anca I.