The Birth of the Modern Book: Re-reading Vollard's Livres d'artistes

Abstract

Ambroise Vollard certainly treated all his book projects as works of art. He was tremendously involved in all his book projects, from choosing the literary artist and visual artist to editing the final appearance of the page. The art dealer and publisher showed creative initiative and a modem aesthetic in addition to strategically pairing visual artists to texts that would particularly inspire them to create conceptually exciting visual compositions. As a publisher of fine books, Vollard let the visual artist reign supreme, never impeded the artist's interpretive process, and allowed entirely conceptual and even abstract images to accompany the text. Several of Vollard' s artist's books, including those examined here, Parallelement, Les Pastora/es de Daphnis et Chloe, Le Chef-d'oeuvre inconnu, the Pere Ubu series, Sainte Monique, and La Tentation de Saint-Antoine, reveal brilliant, insightful collaborations among visual and literary artists. The texts range from ancient Greek romances to Vollard's own contemporary satire, and the artists are equally as varied, from Odilon Redon to Pablo Picasso. Yet, a stimulating interaction between text and image that enriches the reader/viewer experience remains constant in all ofVollard's editions. . . . It is my contention that Ambroise Vollard's livres d 'artistes are not "mere" illustrated books, as Drucker would have it. Instead they are true artists' books in which the literary and the visual interact to create a more insightful overall experience for the reader/viewer. The livre d 'artiste projects of Editions Vo/lard reveal, though to varying degrees, their creators' awareness of issues of semiotics and ideology inherent to the book itself. [From Introduction]