L'Enchanteur pourrissant

Artist André Derain (French, 1880-1954)

Publisher Henry Kahnweiler, éditeur, Paris, 1909

Author Guillaume Apollinaire (French, 1880-1918)

Date1909

Dimensionsbox: 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)

MediumOriginal prints: 32 woodcuts (incl. head and tailpieces, initials, and publisher's vignette) Text: letterpress Paper: cream Arches laid paper

ClassificationBooks

Credit LineMrs. George W. Stevens Fund

Object number

1989.125

Not on View

Label TextThis 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.Published Referencescf. Wheeler, Monroe, Modern Painters and Sculptors as Illustrators, New York, 1946, p. 100 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. 14Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, European Expressionist and Cubist Works on Paper: 1900-1930, December 2, 2011-March 11, 2012 (University of Toledo Student Exhibition).