Anna Staritsky

(1908 - 1981)

11313

Valentine and Jean-Claude Marcadé

Fable du royaume des Indes

Fable of the Indian kingdom

Libos: Alain Sanchez, 1973

408 x 290 mm. pages nn.

Edition: 23. Copy h.c.

 This fragment of an ancient Russian text was specially translated for this book by Valentine and Jean-Claude Marcadé, both art historians specialized on Russian art of the 20th century. The folder  containing the book is made of cardboard pasted with jute to be closed with two buttons. The embossed wrappers of heavy brown paper hold 10 folded sheets of Auvergne paper. The book was designed by Staritsky and the engravings were printed by hand on the press in Staritsky’s studio in Paris. To avoid any rigidity in the lay-out, Staritsky uses even a cut-out as an elements in her graphics.  In between the printed sentences she added engraved words in colour. The animals are depicted in relief engravings that are heightened with white, adding a feel of depth to the otherwise flat paper. The colours are vivid and forms do not continue from one page to the next but sometimes to some further page. In this book Staritsky shows not only her ability and mastery in engraving but also her intention to be a free and unorthodox artist who is strange to submission to the real.

References:

Penaranda 1992, nr. 32 

GRM 2000, p. 258

2016 Eindhoven VAM, № 50