Cane

Artist Martin Puryear (American, born 1941)

Author Jean Toomer (American, 1894-1967)

Publisher The Arion Press, San Francisco, California

Date2000

Dimensionspage: 11 1/2 x 9 7/8 in. (292 x 251mm)
book: 11 13/16 x 14 3/16 in. (300 x 360mm)
slipcase: 13 3/4 x 15 1/16 in. (350 x 383mm)
sheet: 16 13/16 x 20 5/8 in. (427 x 524mm)
portfolio: 18 3/16 x 21 13/16 in. (462 x 554mm)

MediumBook with 10 woodblock prints and letterpress text, plus portfolio of 7 woodblock prints, housed in artist’s wooden slipcase

ClassificationBooks

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number

2001.4A-I

Not on View

DescriptionThis artists' book is bound in full leather. The text is letterpress printed on Biblio paper, mouldmade in Germany. The 7 full-page woodcuts and 3 section headers are printed on Kitakata paper, handmade in Japan. The book (special edition only) is housed in a wooden slipcase designed by the artist and constructed in his studio from four woods --African wenge, Swiss pear, American walnut and sugar maple. A signed, numbered, and untrimmed suite of the 7 woodcuts on Kitakata paper is housed in a separate cloth-covered portfolio. This artists' book is bound in full leather. The text is letterpress printed on Biblio paper, mouldmade in Germany. The 7 full-page woodcuts and 3 section headers are printed on Kitakata paper, handmade in Japan. The book (special edition only) is housed in a wooden slipcase designed by the artist and constructed in his studio from four woods --African wenge, Swiss pear, American walnut and sugar maple. A signed, numbered, and untrimmed suite of the 7 woodcuts on Kitakata paper is housed in a separate cloth-covered portfolio.

Label TextJean Toomer’s Cane is an experimental novel first published in 1923 to great acclaim. It explores African American life and folk culture rooted in the slave experience. Narrated in a variety of forms, including fiction, poetry, and drama, it takes place in both rural Georgia and the urban North. Toomer (1894–1967), a black poet, playwright, and novelist, was friends with several of the great literary figures of the 1920s and an inspiration for many writers of the Harlem Renaissance. Artist Martin Puryear is a leading contemporary American sculptor chiefly known for his minimalist wood sculptures and love of craftsmanship. Puryear first read Cane in the 1970s when he was teaching and living in the South, and the book has been important to him ever since. His series of 10 woodcuts consist of seven large abstract portraits of female characters in the book and three smaller reinterpretations of the arcs that Toomer himself created as designs in the original publication. Puryear’s wooden slipcase was produced from four woods: African wenge, Swiss pear, Italian walnut, and New England maple; the colors of the woods are symbolic of human skin tones.Published Referenceshttp://www.arionpress.com/forthcom.htm cf. Johnson, Robert Flynn, Artists' Books in the Modern Era 1870--2000: The Reva and David Logan Collection of Illustrated Books, San Francisco, 2001, no. 180 [The following citations illuminate his style and past production.] exhibition catalogues: c.f. Neal David Benezra, Martin Puryear. New York, New York: Thames and Hudson; Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1993, c1991). articles: c.f. Goodman, Jonathan, "Martin Puryear," Art News, 94 (September 1995) p. 142-3. c.f. Melrod, George, "Skill, vision, and craft," Art & Antiques 18 (June 1995) p. 39-40+. c.f. Princenthal, Nancy, "Martin Puryear," American Craft v. 52 (February/March 1992) p. 34-7. Reich, Paula, Toledo Museum of Art Map and Guide, London, Scala and Toledo Museum of Art, 2005, p. 63, repr. (col.).Exhibition HistoryIn Focus: Martin Puryear: May-June 2001 (no cat.).

Toledo Museum of Art, PICTURE ID: Contemporary African American Works on Paper, March 14-June 14, 2020.