L'Enchanteur pourrissant
Artist: André Derain (French, 1880-1954)
Publisher: Henry Kahnweiler, éditeur, Paris, 1909
Printer: Paul Birault, Paris
Author: Guillaume Apollinaire (French, 1880-1918)
Date: 1909
Dimensions:
box: 11 15/16 x 8 3/4 in. (304 x 222mm)
book: 11 1/4 x 8 1/8 in. (285 x 206mm)
page (untrimmed): 10 1/4 x 7 11/16 in. (260 x 196mm)
Medium: Original prints: 32 woodcuts (incl. head and tailpieces, initials, and publisher's vignette)
Text: letterpress
Paper: cream Arches laid paper
Classification: Books
Credit Line: Mrs. George W. Stevens Fund
Object number: 1989.125
Label Text:This is one of the chief masterpieces of early 20th-century graphic art, literature, and book production. A monument of triple firsts, this was the first book published by Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, art dealer to Picasso, André Derain, and many other Modern artists, and contained the first published prints by Derain and the first text in book form by avant-garde poet Guillaume Apollinaire.
The bizarre and mysterious story is about the sorcerer Merlin, moldering in his forest grave under the spell of the fairy Vivian. The "imprisoned' Merlin receives a variety of strange visitors. The magical character of the tale inspired Derain to create images of a lush, enchanted forest, populated by druids, birds, and animals. Derain’s woodblock technique of heavy outlines, bold, flat shapes, and rough gouges was influenced by African Sub-Saharan art and the woodcuts of Paul Gauguin and renewed interest in the woodcut as a print medium.
The bizarre and mysterious story is about the sorcerer Merlin, moldering in his forest grave under the spell of the fairy Vivian. The "imprisoned' Merlin receives a variety of strange visitors. The magical character of the tale inspired Derain to create images of a lush, enchanted forest, populated by druids, birds, and animals. Derain’s woodblock technique of heavy outlines, bold, flat shapes, and rough gouges was influenced by African Sub-Saharan art and the woodcuts of Paul Gauguin and renewed interest in the woodcut as a print medium.
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