Object-books

 

"An object-book addresses an kind of public that is different from the "common" reader (The word "common" is nowadays frequently used, particularly in France). What makes it stand out ? I think that almost any passionate reader can become a bibliophile if they have the chance to come to know the somewhat unordinary world of the artists who want to transform texts into objects. Not to mention if they start thinking about collecting such objects, which are somewhat hidden. They are kept in a library; they are locked, stored, and saved for special, rare, and privileged moments when they are admired for a short period of time only to be hidden again and brought back to the world after a while. An object-book cannot be hung against a wall like a painting or an engraving. That is why there is something mysterious about them…

 

My firt books, those that didn't have any texts, were unique. I only made one of each, without any copie. Then I Continued with engraving books - they had 8 or 9 engravings and I only made 30 copies for each book. At a later point, I realized that an object-book, especially if it relie on a poem, cannot come in copies just like you cannot recite a poem in the same way two times in a row. That was when I decided to illustrate each text in a way that cannot be duplicated. So in the end I came back to the concept of o unique book; although the text is reiterated, the illustration changes each and every time. That's what I did with Pier Paolo Pasolini's texts. The book called "The Impure Angel" (in original, "L'Ange impur") was presented at the Friedrich Dürrenmat Center in Switzerland and was purchased ba Switzerland's National Library.

 

There in another books I have done witch tooked me years to finished it. It has the poems of Constantinos Kavafis. They are so beautiful that was dificult to select only few of them! I also had a hard time choosing among their translations in French, English, Romanian, and German… The book entitled "Athenée", the name of the café where the poet used to go every day and where he wrote many of this poems."

 

Original Editions

 

 

"Les larmes de bambou" (Bamboo Tears), text by Bernard Chambaz, signed at Galerie "La Hune", Paris, France, 1998.

Public Collections

 

National Library of Switzerland, Bern, "Les larmes de bambou", text by Bernard Chambaz

 

Neuchâtel Public and University Library, Switzerland, "Les larmes de bambou", text by Bernard Chambaz.

 

National Library of France, Paris, "Les larmes de bambou", text by Bernard Chambaz.

 

National Library of Switzerland, Bern, "Hier", text by Agota Kristof.

 

Neuchâtel Public and University Library, Switzerland, "Hier", text by Agota Kristof.

 

Arab World Institute, Paris,  "Le don de l'aimance", text by Abdelkabir Khatibi.

 

National Library, Switzerland, Bern, "Le don de l'aimance" texte de Abdelkabir Khatibi.

 

 

 

About the Artist's Books "LE LIVRE LIBRE"

 

You can find the work of Anca Seel-Constantin, alongside artists such as Steinlen, Masereel, Matisse, and Picasso, in the book "LE LIVRE LIBRE" published in 2010 by Les Cahiers dessinés.

 

This work examines artists' books, these confidential, even invisible, publications that constitute a disconcerting testimony, due to their diversity, their scale, their artisanal quality, or their nonchalance.