Un soupçon
Year: 1965
Author: Paul Éluard (1895 - 1952)
Artist: Michel Guino (1926 - 2013)
Publisher: Degré quarante et un.
In spite of his forty-five years of experience producing and publishing artists' books, this publication proved to be quite a challenge for Iliazd. Michel Guino, the illustrator, offered as an explanation that it took two years to create Un soupçon because the preparations required a great number of studies, drawings and various states of the etchings. Iliazd also controlled every aspect of the creative process, proved to be highly demanding, and refused to relinquish any of his ideas about the book's design.
Iliazd said the following about Un soupçon: 'I won't say that this will be the best-produced book I have ever made, but it will certainly be one of the most deliberate.'
Distinguished beauty
And yet, there are many reasons why this book still compares favourably to that other book produced by Ilizad: Poèmes et bois (1961). It is immediately evident to what Un soupçon owes its beauty: the old Japanese paper, the colourful dry-points by Guino, the parchment cover and the high-quality typographical work that was even carried through to the slipcase. These characteristic ingredients are typical for Iliazd's qualities as a publisher. Besides, as we have come to expect from him, as much attention has been devoted to the literary aspect of the book as its artistic content. Un soupçon contains only one (unpublished!) poem, out of the many hundreds of poems Éluard had written. This repetitive poem is expanded both literally and figuratively in the oversized edition: each line of verse is printed on a single page in order to emphasize the words even more strongly. The book's literary element – the text – is strengthened both in colour and layout by the fanciful use of typography.
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Pagina 3 met tekst (Riait légère) en illustratie door Michel Guino
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Illustratie door Michel Guino (pagina 11)
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Pagina 13 met tekst (Rêvait légère) en illustratie door Michel Guino
A wild history
This book's distinguished beauty actually plays host to a wild history. Éluard promised to write a preface to Iliazd's poem Lidantiu faram (1923), but he retracted his promise after the so-called 'soirée du Coeur à Barbe' incident. Tristan Tzara was the evening's organiser and Iliazd produced the poster. Éluard did not want his name to appear beside Cocteau's on the programme, so he retracted his promise regarding the preface in a letter to Iliazd. But that is not all: on the infamous Dada evening of 6 July 1923, Iliazd refused to take sides in a conflict between Éluard and Tzara. Against Éluard's wishes, Tzara had André Breton removed by the police, and he sued Éluard for 30,000 francs; the second evening's cancellation was, according to Tzara, mostly Éluard's fault. Ultimately, Éluard offered Iliazd the poem * Un soupçon* in order to save their friendship.
Sculptures on paper
Iliazd turned out to be so impressed by the poem that he wanted to turn it into a beautiful edition after Éluard's death. The repeated use of the word 'légère' (which means light, airy and brave) made an especially strong impression, evoking various kinds of associations. Each repetition of the word 'légère' made him imagine air sculptures made of steel in order to visualize Éluard's poem. He also already had an artist in mind for the realization of this project: the young French sculptor Michel Guino, whom he had met in 1955 in Saint-Germain des Prés. Guino's colour etchings – fifteen in total – bear a striking resemblance to the air sculptures made of torn metal Iliazd had dreamed of. These 'sculptures on paper' are so spatial and warm-coloured that they seem almost three-dimensional, appearing to leap off the paper.
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Illustratie door Michel Guino (pagina 16)
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Rug van de cassette
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Un soupçon, colofon
Bibliographical description
Description: Un soupçon: poème / de Paul Éluard ; ill. de pointes sèches par Guino ; mis en lumière par Iliazd. - Paris : Degré quarante et un, 1965. - [34] bl. : ill. ; 44 cm
Printer: Union
Edition: 41 and VI copies on Imperial Japan ('Japon impérial) paper and 23 on old Japan paper('vieux Japon')
This copy: Number 8 of 23 on vieux japon
Note: Signed by the artist and the publisher.
Bibliography: Bénézit 6-584, 6-806
Shelfmark: KW Koopm E 69
References
- Paul van Capelleveen, Sophie Ham, Jordy Joubij, Voices and visions. The Koopman Collection and the Art of the French Book. The Hague, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of the Netherlands; Zwolle, Waanders, 2009
- Paul van Capelleveen, Sophie Ham, Jordy Joubij, Voix et visions. La Collection Koopman et l'Art du Livre français. La Haye, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Bibliothèque nationale des Pays-Bas; Zwolle, Waanders, 2009
- Exposition Iliazd: ses peintres, ses livres, du 23 mai au 15 juin 1991. Paris, Flak, 1991
- Iliazd. Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, 1978
- Audrey Isselbacher, Iliazd and the illustrated book. New York, Museum of Modern Art, 1987
- Johanna Drucker, 'Iliazd and the Book as a Form of Art', in: The journal of decorative and propaganda arts, 7 (1988) Winter, p. 36-51
- Violaine Vanoyeke, Paul Éluard: Le poète de la liberté. Paris, Julliard, 1995
- Françoise Woimant, Marcelle Elgrishi, 'Iliazd, Tériade et Pierre Lecuire, trois grands éditeurs de notre temps', in: Nouvelles de l'estampe, 15 (1974) mai-juin, p. 17-23