Livre d’artiste: vystavka knig iz sobraniia Marka Bashmakova. Katalog (Livre d’artiste: An Exhibition of Books from the Collection of Mark Bashmakov. Catalogue)

St. Petersburg: Hermitage, 2013. First Edition. Hardcover. fine. Fine copy. In this lavishly illustrated Hermitage exhibition catalogue the authors trace the formation of the genre of artist’s book, seeing its origin in the best examples of nineteenth-century French book design and illustration (e.g., Delacroix, Manet, Degas, Denis), and seek to place it in the overall history of twentieth-century art. The authors identify the subjects around which the artists most often chose to construct their books — biblical texts, ancient texts, classics of European literature, and French poetry. They follow the work of the collector and publisher who helped initiate the artist’s book Ambroise Vollard, who worked with Bonnard, Denis, Picasso, Rouault, among others, and identify other publishers such as Albert Skira, who produced key examples of the genre. Also noted are contributions of Russian avant-garde artists like Natalia Goncharova. The catalogue begins with six works considered as precursors of the artist’s book from the Hermitage collection, such as Delacroix’s illustrations of Faust, and then publishes fifty works from the Basmakov collection, both central masterpieces and those that lie on its boundaries of the genre. The collection is broad enough to give a picture of the artist’s book as it flourished between 1900 and 1955. Catalogue entries besides detailed descriptions (size of print run, method of illustration and printing, etc.) comment on the text and the artist’s work. An appendix lists artists of the first half of the twentieth century who were instrumental in creating the genre of livre d’artiste many of whom are published here; for example, Bonnard, Braque, Chagall, Dali, Denis, Matisse, Rouault, Raoul Dufy, Juan Gris, and Maurice de Vlaminck. The Hermitage catalogue itself lays out the illustrations with many two-page spreads to give as vivid an impression as possible of the artist’s books. 320 p., 9 x 12 ins., approx. 300 illus. mostly color, Rus. with title page, artists’ names, titles, and summary in English. Lovely book.