Poésies Européennes

France, 1991

Leather and glass etui , with white bull design (2 parts); horn; gold painted bone; painted head in papier maché, 27.30 x 19 x 9 cm

Inscription: Editor (In the case of printmaking) / Workshop or Atelier in the case of tapestry: Cercle de Reliure d’Art de Cibourne / Arjomari Diffusion; Signed and dated by both the artist as creator and binder (on the inner part of the back cover)

Purchased from the artist in 1991

The book, as a material and cultural object, has always been at the centre of Claudine Heili’s work. Indeed, after ten years at the conservatory, she pursues academic artistic training at the École Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Strasbourg. There, she discovers the book as a plastic medium, and dedicates her craft to the literary support. Even in other fields (painting, drawing, sculpture) the book often appears as a motif, a symbol or an accessory. This artistic curiosity is the result of an ambitious undertaking centred on the study of Europe’s poetic tradition, concluded in 1991. Indeed, 15 European regions and cultures are represented in this book. For each culture (identified by a page featuring a map), Heili selected one or several famous quills and excerpts of their work to embody said culture’s poetic heritage. France is represented by Victor Hugo’s ‘Jour de fête aux environs de Paris’ and Arthur Rimbaud’s ‘Le Dormeur du Val’; The Basque Region is represented by Jean Diharce’s ‘ Itsasoan’ and Bernardo Atxaga’s ‘ Antzinako bihotz’; Germany is represented by Goethe’s ‘Erlkönig’ and Heinrich Heine’s ‘Die Lorelei’; Belgium is represented Thiry Marvel’s ‘La Mer de Tranquillité’ and Guido Gezelle’s ‘Dien avond en die rooze’; Denmark is represented by Thomas Kingo’s ‘ Hvcer har sin Skaebne’ and Sophus Claussen’s ‘I en frugthave’; Spain is represented Frederico Garcia Lorca’s ‘Romance de la luna, luna’ and Garsilaso de la Vega’s ‘ Sonetos’; Great Britain is represented by William Wordsworth’s ‘The Daffodils’ and Thomas Hood’s ‘I remember, I remember’; Greece is represented by Sapho’s ‘Ode to Aphrodite’ and Aristotle’s ‘Ode to Vertue’; Ireland is represented by Oliver Goldsmith’s ‘The deserted village’ and Jonathan Swift’s ‘Baucis and Philemon’; Italy is represented by Dante’s ‘Il purgatorio: Canto XVIII’ and Torquato Tasso; Luxembourg is represented by Tit Schroeder’s ‘ Lëtzebuurg’ and Michel Lentz’s ‘D’Margréitchen’; The Netherlands are represented by Joest van den Vondel’s ‘Gynbricht van Amstel’ and Willem Elsschot’s ‘ Aan mijn moeder’; Portugal 225 is represented by Vicente Gil’s ‘ Sátiras sociais’ and Luis de Camöes’ ‘Os Lusíadas: Canto I’; and finally Switzerland is represented by Eugène Rambert’s ‘Heures du soir’, Gotfried Keller’s ‘Aus dem Leben’ and Paganino Gaudenzi’s ‘A Margarita Lanfranca’. The cover is beautifully illustrated with antique motifs and a Europa figure, complemented and completed by the bull’s head in relief on the delicate glass casing.

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