Rose goret

Year: 2005

Author: Gérard Farasse (1945 - 2014)

Typography: François Da Ros

Artist: Martine Rassineux 1955

Publisher: Anakatabase

Gérard Farasse, Martine Rassineux, François Da Ros, Rose goret (2005)

Since the inaugural edition Anakatabase (1991) Éditions Anakatabase has published various books, including Rose goret (2005) and Généalogies (2007). Each work has its own formal and thematic characteristics. For instance, Rose goret (2005) is about the position of the pig.

The pig is never far away

In certain cultures the pig is viewed as unclean and in many proverbs it does not come off well either. There are those, however, who think differently. Félicien Rops preferred to see butchers and pigs than ‘so-called artists and similar such imbeciles’ and Jules Renard wrote: ‘You must talk about the pig as you would talk about a flower’. When, in 2007, the Dutch artist Christien Meindertsma published her book PIG 05049 : 1:1 it became evident just how much the animal appeals to the public imagination. In the book, images of all the products we use that contain traces of pig’s fat or pork were presented. That included, for example: ammunition, photo paper, heart valves, brakes, chewing gum, porcelain, cosmetics, and even bio diesel. In short, the pig is never far away.

A tribute to the pig

Two years previously, the poet Gérard Farasse had written the essay Rose goret (Pink piglet) about the role of the pig in mythology and folklore. The book was published by Anakatabase in an edition of 15 copies. The etchings were done by artist Martine Rassineux. Her husband, printer François Da Ros, set the text in Franklin, Dattilo and Rolando typefaces. While all the quotations were in black, the narrative was in silver. The whole execution of the book amounted to a tribute to the pig: rather than being made of paper, the pages were made of pig’s leather dyed red and the book was stored in a wooden chestnut box fabricated by Da Ros himself, the handles of which put one in mind of pig’s ears. Somehow the interface between ugliness and humour had been found. In the back of the box are two long strokes of red pig’s leather that are decorated with seven images of happy-looking pigs. They have the softness of meat. Beneath is hidden the image of a pig’s snout on a gilded plate. This homage to the animal has a reflecting surface so that when the reader looks at it he sees his own face reflected around the creature’s snout.

 

Original gilded copper plate reflecting the colophon

Bibliographical description

Description: Rose goret / [texte inédit de] Gérard Farasse ; [gravures originales de] Martine Rassineux ; [conception graphique: François Da Ros]. - Montreuil : Anakatabase, 2005. - [16] p : ill. ; 39x28 cm.

Printer: François Da Ros (Montreuil-sous-Bois)

Edition: 15 copies

This copy: Number 8 of 15 on "peau-de-la-bête" (pigskin)

Note: Text set in typefaces Franklin, Dattilo and Rolando; with two sequels of the book in form of big stamps; chestnut wooden box as book binding made by François Da Ros; signed by the author and the artists

Shelfmark: KW KOOPM E 77 [1]

References

  • Marie Akar, 'François Da Ros et Martine Rassineux. La lettre et l’image’, in: Art et métiers du livre, 261 (août-septembre 2007), p. 54-63.
  • Paul van Capelleveen, 'Anakatabase, François Da Ros & Martine Rassineux', in: Artists & others. The imaginative French book in the 21st century. Koopman Collection, National Library of the Netherlands. Nijmegen, Vantilt Publishers, 2016, p. 30-37.
  • Marie Chamonard, Réflexion sur le dépôt légal des livres d’artistes à partir dúne étude sur un imprimeur typographe, François Da Ros. Paris, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Sciences de l’Information et des Bibliothèques, 2001.
  • Pascal Fulacher, 'Entretien avec François Da Ros, typographe', in: Art et métiers du livre, 141 (septembre 1986), p. 24-27.
  • Gilles Kraemer, ‘Ilinx’, in: Art et métiers du livre, 283 (mars-avril 2011), p. 86.
  • Wilfried Onzea, ‘François Da Ros. Master of art in typography’, in: Parenthesis, 28 (Spring 2015), p. 24-27.
  • Françoise Seince, 'Martine Rassineux ou la philosophie du signe', in: Art et métiers du livre, 176 (novembre-décembre 1992), p. 32-34.