Here are half a dozen books that make us dream, all while exercising our eyes and brains (not to mention, in some cases, our French, English, Russian, German or Japanese). In other words, these are genuine treasures available at affordable prices.
R like Rodtchenko
Animaux à mimer/Samozveri, designed in 1926 by Alexandre Rodtchenko, Sergueï Tretiakov and Vavara Stepanova, was recreated in 2010 in MeMo’s collection Trois Ourses. Tretyakov, a poet and playwright, asked his friend Rodchenko for photographs to accompany his text. He used the small characters and animals designed by Rodchenko’s wife, Stepanova, who had created these “animated pictures.” The album is a kind of collaborative interpretation, with the help of Rodchenko and Stepanova’s grandson, Alexander Lavrentiev, who shared not only his archives and family memories, but also digital copies of the images.
C like Cahun
Next there is Le Cœur de Pic, a collection of 32 poems for children by Lise Deharme (the “Queen of Spades” in Man Ray’s famous double portrait), presented alongside 20 photos by Claude Cahun. Because it’s a collaboration among Surrealists, games with words and images follow on from each other in a mixture of fantasy and fear. Le Cœur de Pic was republished in 2004 by MeMo.
H like Höch…
Another picture book by Hannah Höch was reprinted as a facsimile. A contemporary of Rodchenko and Cahun, Höch is associated with Dada and the early days of photomontage. In 1945, she developed miniature fables using collages and rhymes. This book was only published after her death, in a limited-edition run of 200 copies. The facsimile was made from original collages, photographed as found, in order to retain not only the textures, but also, says artistic director Anja Lutz, “the stains and traces of time.”
… and like Hirokawa
In Taishi Hirokawa’s Whimsical Forces, leaves gathered off the ground become the subjects of “portraits.” A renowned fashion and advertising photographer, Hirokawa regularly devotes himself to personal projects, such as this meditation on the cycles of nature and the passage of time, published by his graphic artist friend Katsumi Kogamata.
T like Tabuchi
Éric Tabuchi’s Alphabet Truck 2 is an alphabet primer. In this case the letters are painted on the back of trucks. Taking as much inspiration from conceptual American artists and the Becher’s in Germany as from Jack Kerouac, Tabuchi traveled tens of thousands of kilometers on French roads to find of a complete alphabet. This set of 26 photographs allows the viewer to “read” the transformations of the landscape, internalizing the world of freight. The first edition of Alphabet Trucks in 2008 quickly sold out.
Miriam Rosen
Alexandre Rodtchenko, Sergueï Tretiakov, Varvara Stepanova
Animaux à mimer/Samozveri
Art Director : Yves Mestrallet
Text : Odile Belkader
Édition french / russian
Edition : Collection des Trois Ourses, éditions MeMo, Nantes, 2010
21,5 x 28 cm, 60 p.
ISBN : 978-2-35289-074-4
32 €
Lise Deharme et Claude Cahun
Le Cœur de Pic (1937)
Text by Paul Éluard
Art Director : Yves Mestrallet
Edition : éditions MeMo, Nantes, 2004
20,9 x 25,7 cm, 56 p.
ISBN : 2-910391-52-3
18 €
Hannah Höch
Bilderbuch/Picture Book (1945)
Design : Anja Lutz
Text : Gunda Luyken
English translation : Brian Currid
Edition : The Green Box, Berlin, 2010
27,5 x 22,5 cm, 44 p.
ISBN : 978-3-908175-35-3 (german)
978-3-941644-13-7 (english)
24 €
Taishi Hirokawa
Whimsical Forces
Design: Katsumi Komagata
Text : Taishi Hirokawa
Japanese / English
Edition : One Stroke, Tokyo, 2005
14,5 x 21,5 cm, 64 p.
30 €
http://lestroisourses.com
Éric Tabuchi
Alphabet Truck 2
Design : Éric Tabuchi
Edition : Éditions Florence Loewy, Paris, 2009
15,5 x 19,2 cm, 26 photographs
600 copies
ISBN : 978-2-911136-08-5
26 €
