5 dans ton oeil / L'oreille du mur

Year: 1998
Author: Salah Stétié (1929 - 2020)
Artist: Pierre Alechinsky (1927)
Publisher: R.L.D. [Robert and Lydie Dutrou]

L'oreille du mur, cover

The number of books illustrated or created by Alechinsky is so great that a complete catalogue of his work seems impossible. Alechinsky has contributed to such a bibliography, but its subtitle is a witty indication that comprehensiveness is out of the question. It is therefore not an annotated catalogue, not a 'catalogue raisonnée', but a 'reasonable' bibliography, which appeared in 2002.

The two books that Robert and Lydie Dutrou made with Alechinsky in 1998 are described in the bibliographyunder numbers 146 and 147, and their sizes are quite different. L'oreille du mur contains aphorisms by the poet Stétié, reproduced on the basis of his handwriting and measuring 21 by 13.2 centimetres. 5 dans ton oeil is a portfolio of 72 by 52 centimetres with 5 separate lithographs. Some parts of those large prints have been etched and contain texts by Stétié that have been typeset and printed by hand.

The aphorisms are about living, thinking and writing, as the genre dictates:

Le plaisir d'être un bête. Le plaisir d'être. Le plaisir. (The pleasure of being a beast. The pleasure of being. The pleasure.)

L'homme comprend même ce qu'il ne comprend pas. (Man understands even what he does not understand.)

On ne peut rien faire que seul. Mais pas tout seul. (Nothing can be done but alone. But not alone.)

Alechinsky visited Japan in 1955, from which time onwards his fascination for Oriental calligraphy has been evident in all of his work. He opted for the calligrapher's brush (instead of the ordinary paintbrush), using it from then on to draw, paint and create lithographs. He also no longer painted on canvas, but on paper. Humour, freshness and vivacity are the terms generally used to describe Alechinsky's art.

  • Titelpagina en frontispice van L'oreille du mur

Bibliographical descriptions

Description: L'oreille du mur / Salah Stétié ; [ill. par] Pierre Alechinsky. - Parly en Puisaye : R.L.D., 1998. - 34 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.

Uitgegeven met: 5 dans ton oeil

Printer: Italic Impression

Edition: 600 copies

This copy: One of 600 copies on Vergé Ivoire and number 18 of 80 copies numbered and signed by the author

Note: With an etching on Larroque, signed by the artist

Bibliography: Bénézit 1-175

Shelfmark: KW Koopm M 753

Description: 5 dans ton œil / Salah Stétié ; [imagé et mis en page par Pierre Alechinsky]. - Paris : R.L.D., 1998. - [7] pl.: ill. ; 66×51 cm

Published with: L'oreille du mur

Printer: Robert et Lydie Dutrou (Parijs)

Edition: 120 copies

Number: One of 120 copies on Arches and number IX of 15 copies for the author

Note: Signed by the author, The five original lithographs are numbered and signed by the artist

Shelfmark: KW Koopm E 47

References

  • Pierre Alechinsky, The complete books. A reasonable catalogue. Antwerpen, Celueers & Van de Velde Booksellers, 2002
  • 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
  • Paule Plouvier, Renée Ventresque, Itinéraires de Salah Stétié. Paris, L’Harmattan, 1996
  • Tussen de regels: Alechinsky. Den Haag, Living Stone Editions, 1997