Heures dispersées

Year: 2014
Author: Marie Grégoire (*1965) 
Artist: François Righi (*1946) 
Publisher: Les livres sont muets

Heures dispersées, frontispice door François Righi en titelpagina
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Heures dispersées, frontispiece by François Righi and title page

Heures dispersées, published in 2014 in collaboration with writer Marie Grégoire, continues François Righi’s long-standing dialogue with the world of the medieval Jean Lallemant. This theme was previously explored in Le miroir volatil (2003) and Un livre muet pour Jean Lallemant le Jeune (2005). For this publication, Righi took as his starting point the decorated ceiling of the oratory at the Hôtel Lallemant in Bourges. The ceiling is composed of geometrically arranged panels in which mythological and religious representations are interwoven with more decorative motifs. Amongst these representations, putti also appear: small, winged figures that appear as a recurring motif throughout the book.

Paths, tracks, roads, alleys, corridors

The putti’s small footprints become the central visual motif of the work. Repeated and circled several times by Righi, they form a visual thread that runs through the pages. Righi built up his images in several printing stages. First, he used rhodium plates to print white shapes on the pages. He then used copper plates to print the square etchings on the cover, two frontispieces and an illustration accompanying Grégoire’s text. In a final stage, he placed the circled footprints to the already printed white shaped. The successive layers of printing produce compositions in which rigid geometric structures alternate with flowing and undulating lines. On a single page, the dense patterns give way to an almost empty space, in which a single line suggests the course of a track or path.

This is a recurring theme throughout the book. Often on the left-hand pages, several columns of synonyms for the word ‘chemin’ (‘path’) are printed in Righi’s handwriting. First in French, then in 162 other languages. The columns are adorned with what appear to be illuminated initials. The words serve as visual symbols through which the idea of exploration and connection is expanded upon in the book.

François Righi, koperplaat in Heures dispersées
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François Righi, copper plate in Heures dispersées 

Of the 28 copies for the trade, the KB holds the second deluxe copy. This is accompanied by one of the three copper plates, in this case that of the frontispiece. The final printing was carried out by Michael Woolworth (for the lithographs of the circled footprints), Emile Moreau (for the typography) and by Righi himself (for the etchings).

Contemplation

As in much of Righi’s work, medieval culture serves not only as source material, but also as a means of reflecting on the book itself. He has long admired illuminated manuscripts for their status as symbolic objects. Text, image and material form are inextricably linked. Heures dispersées draws on that tradition yet remains unmistakably contemporary.

Marie Grégoire’s text, which appears on the final page, is brief and simple. She concludes her text by saying that this is how it is, and that no search for a ‘why’ is undertaken. The result therefore is a book that invites contemplation rather than interpretation. The symbolism resists definitive explanation and encourages the reader to linger amongst all the paths. The fusion of the symbolism of the letters and the words (that aren’t necessarily there to be read) and the images (that invite to wander) is what Righi sought to achieve in his book. It may seem obvious to regard the book as a cryptogram, but Righi does not create puzzles, for there are no solutions.

Bibliographical description

Description: Heures dispersées / Marie Grégoire ; conçu et réalisé par François Righi. - Ivoy-le-Pré : Les livres sont muets, 2014. - 25 p. ; 27 × 25 cm.
Printer: Michael Woolworth (lithographs), François Righi (etchings) and Emile Moreau (typography)
Edition: 31 copies on Japon Minota paper
This copy: No. 2 
Note: Deluxe copy with engraved copper plate of the frontispiece. Signed by the author and the artist.
Shelfmark: KW KOOPM A10178

References

  • Paul van Capelleveen, 'Les livres sont muets, François Righi', in Artists & others. The imaginative French book in the 21st century. Koopman Collection, National Library of the Netherlands. Nijmegen, Vantilt Publishers, 2016, pp. 186–191.

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