Parallèlement
Artist: Pierre Bonnard (French, 1867-1947)
Publisher: Ambroise Vollard, éditeur, Paris, 1900
Author: Paul Verlaine (French, 1844-1896)
Date: 1900
Dimensions:
Slipcase: H: 12 1/8 in. (308 mm); W: 10 1/16 in. (255 mm); Depth: 1 5/16 in. (33 mm)
Book: H: 11 3/4 in. (298 mm); W: 10 1/6 in. (256 mm); Depth: 1 1/8 in. (29 mm)
Page: H: 11 1/2 in. (292 mm); W: 9 3/8 in. (238 cm)
Leaf: H: 11 13/16 in. (300 mm); W: 9 5/8 in. (244 mm)
Medium: Original prints: 109 lithographs in rose, plus an additional suite of 109 (bound at end); plus wood engraved vignettes in black.
Text: letterpress (typeface: Garamond Italic)
Paper: china paper
Classification: Books
Credit Line: Gift of Molly and Walter Bareiss
Object number: 1984.280
Label Text:PARALLELEMENT, the first great livre d'artiste of the 20th century was the first such publication by the art dealer Vollard, who spared nothing to produce this magnificent edition-de-luxe. Regarded as a epoch-making achievement in the French illustrated book, Bonnard's inspired lithographs freely flow over the margins and infringe on the lines of type thus uniting poetry and image in an innovative way. Bonnnard's exuberant and uninhibited drawings, printed in a delectable rose-pink color, underscore the sensuality of Verlaine's poetrv.
Publisher: Ambroise Vollard
Pierre Bonnard, Parallèlement (In Parallel). Text by Paul Verlaine (1900)
Pierre Bonnard, Les pastorales de Longus; ou Daphnis et Chloé (Pastorals of Longus; or
Daphnis and Chloë). Text by Longus (1902)
Maurice Denis, Sagesse (Wisdom). Text by Paul Verlaine (1911)
The Parisian art dealer Ambroise Vollard was one of the leading publishers of livres de peintre or painter’s books. These were deluxe editions matching original prints with a text.
For his first project Vollard chose Parallèlement, a collection of poems by Paul Verlaine. He settled on Bonnard to create the prints. Bonnard’s sensuous lithographs were printed with rose-colored ink. For the most part the publication was received poorly. Collectors didn’t consider lithography a fine-art technique. The edition did not sell out for over 20 years.
Undaunted, Vollard commissioned Bonnard to create lithographs for a translation of an ancient poem by Longus. Unlike the images for Parallèlement, the designs for Daphnis et Chloé conformed to a rectangular format above five lines of text. Colored ink was replaced with the same gray-black ink as the text, adding to the overall unity of the design. This volume too did not sell well.
Many of Vollard's projects took years to complete and some were left unfinished at his death. Sagesse was written by Verlaine in 1873. The poem inspired a series of drawings by Maurice Denis, which Vollard saw in 1891. He knew this would make a wonderful livre de peintre, but two decades would go by before the book was published. For this project, Vollard had Denis’s drawings converted to wood engravings.
Vollard went on to produce 45 fine press books with such artists as Redon, Maillol, Rouault, and Picasso. They are now considered some of the finest and most influential in the genre.
Publisher: Ambroise Vollard
Pierre Bonnard, Parallèlement (In Parallel). Text by Paul Verlaine (1900)
Pierre Bonnard, Les pastorales de Longus; ou Daphnis et Chloé (Pastorals of Longus; or
Daphnis and Chloë). Text by Longus (1902)
Maurice Denis, Sagesse (Wisdom). Text by Paul Verlaine (1911)
The Parisian art dealer Ambroise Vollard was one of the leading publishers of livres de peintre or painter’s books. These were deluxe editions matching original prints with a text.
For his first project Vollard chose Parallèlement, a collection of poems by Paul Verlaine. He settled on Bonnard to create the prints. Bonnard’s sensuous lithographs were printed with rose-colored ink. For the most part the publication was received poorly. Collectors didn’t consider lithography a fine-art technique. The edition did not sell out for over 20 years.
Undaunted, Vollard commissioned Bonnard to create lithographs for a translation of an ancient poem by Longus. Unlike the images for Parallèlement, the designs for Daphnis et Chloé conformed to a rectangular format above five lines of text. Colored ink was replaced with the same gray-black ink as the text, adding to the overall unity of the design. This volume too did not sell well.
Many of Vollard's projects took years to complete and some were left unfinished at his death. Sagesse was written by Verlaine in 1873. The poem inspired a series of drawings by Maurice Denis, which Vollard saw in 1891. He knew this would make a wonderful livre de peintre, but two decades would go by before the book was published. For this project, Vollard had Denis’s drawings converted to wood engravings.
Vollard went on to produce 45 fine press books with such artists as Redon, Maillol, Rouault, and Picasso. They are now considered some of the finest and most influential in the genre.
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In Collection(s)