DOI Heft:
Nr. 335 (April 1925)
DOI Artikel:Macdougall, Allan Ross: Modern French woodcut
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19985#0044
mceRriACioriAL
WOODCUT ILLUSTRATION BY DIGNIMOXT FOR LES
INNOCENTS." FERENCZI, PUBLISHERS, PARIS
to find in any country more beautiful books
than those of Mornay's. I hold as unsur-
passed Louis Chadourne's Pot au Noir so
vividly illustrated by the colored woodcuts
by Pierre Falke and the Anatole France book
already mentioned, so subtley and charm-
ingly illustrated by Sauvage. But in truth
one could go over the whole list, from the
rudely illustrated Gorki and Kuprin of Lebe-
clefF to the delicately clone trilogy of Jules
Valles by Barthelemy, and, without hesi-
tation or fear of contradiction, say "perfect"
after each book.
In the art of the woodcut as in the other
graphic arts the classicists are not having it
all their own way and the occasional wood-
cuts by modern painters like Raoul Dufy,
Maurice de Vlaminck and Andre Lhote have
stirred things up a bit. The three artists
cited are members of the new group, Peintres-
Graveurs Independants, whose first exposi-
tion in 1923, caused quite a furore. More
than one writer set down his opinion that the
whole history of the art proves the indis-
putable superiority of the irregular practi-
tioner—the painterwood-cutter, sculptor-
woodcutter—over the specialist in the art.
Mornay, Cres, La Renaissance du Livre, Helleu In any case fine work has been done by Dufy and
and Sergent, N. R. F., and the Banderole now his companions. And it would be hard to find
give special attention. By following the
advice of Bracquemond that the illustrations
of a book should be at one with the text and
by confiding their artistic needs to tried men
like Louis Jou, Pierre Falke, Lebedeff, Sau-
vage, Barthelemy, Meheut, Hermann-Paul,
Delignieres, etc., these French firms have,
within the past few years, produced many
beautiful books.
France is a book-lover's country. It is
no surprise, therefore, to learn that an ex-
pensive edition of the late Anatole France's
Les Opinions de Jerome Coignard, excellently
illustrated by Sauvage and published by
Mornay in an edition limited to one thou-
sand copies, was over-subscribed four times
before it had even gone to the press! This
young house of Mornay seems to have a
flair for bringing together the right wood-
engraver and the right book to make a
perfect copy. And indeed it would be hard
WOODCUT TO ILLUSTRATE " LE PERE PEDRIx" BY
DESLIGNERES. ANDRE COQ, PUBLISHERS, PARIS
■ ^ 1
forty-four
APRIL 1925
WOODCUT ILLUSTRATION BY DIGNIMOXT FOR LES
INNOCENTS." FERENCZI, PUBLISHERS, PARIS
to find in any country more beautiful books
than those of Mornay's. I hold as unsur-
passed Louis Chadourne's Pot au Noir so
vividly illustrated by the colored woodcuts
by Pierre Falke and the Anatole France book
already mentioned, so subtley and charm-
ingly illustrated by Sauvage. But in truth
one could go over the whole list, from the
rudely illustrated Gorki and Kuprin of Lebe-
clefF to the delicately clone trilogy of Jules
Valles by Barthelemy, and, without hesi-
tation or fear of contradiction, say "perfect"
after each book.
In the art of the woodcut as in the other
graphic arts the classicists are not having it
all their own way and the occasional wood-
cuts by modern painters like Raoul Dufy,
Maurice de Vlaminck and Andre Lhote have
stirred things up a bit. The three artists
cited are members of the new group, Peintres-
Graveurs Independants, whose first exposi-
tion in 1923, caused quite a furore. More
than one writer set down his opinion that the
whole history of the art proves the indis-
putable superiority of the irregular practi-
tioner—the painterwood-cutter, sculptor-
woodcutter—over the specialist in the art.
Mornay, Cres, La Renaissance du Livre, Helleu In any case fine work has been done by Dufy and
and Sergent, N. R. F., and the Banderole now his companions. And it would be hard to find
give special attention. By following the
advice of Bracquemond that the illustrations
of a book should be at one with the text and
by confiding their artistic needs to tried men
like Louis Jou, Pierre Falke, Lebedeff, Sau-
vage, Barthelemy, Meheut, Hermann-Paul,
Delignieres, etc., these French firms have,
within the past few years, produced many
beautiful books.
France is a book-lover's country. It is
no surprise, therefore, to learn that an ex-
pensive edition of the late Anatole France's
Les Opinions de Jerome Coignard, excellently
illustrated by Sauvage and published by
Mornay in an edition limited to one thou-
sand copies, was over-subscribed four times
before it had even gone to the press! This
young house of Mornay seems to have a
flair for bringing together the right wood-
engraver and the right book to make a
perfect copy. And indeed it would be hard
WOODCUT TO ILLUSTRATE " LE PERE PEDRIx" BY
DESLIGNERES. ANDRE COQ, PUBLISHERS, PARIS
■ ^ 1
forty-four
APRIL 1925