Malade au Printemps 2010
The Anatole Notes project consists of assembled groupings of paintings, objects, paper and letterpress text. Each assemblage reflects on the unfinished fragmented poems ‘pour Anatole un tombeau’ by Stephane Mallarme (1879), ‘a tomb for Anatole’ translated by Paul Auster (1983).
These fragmented phrases are Mallarme’s attempt to come to terms with the death of his eight year old son Anatole. Paul Auster comments;
‘this is one of the most moving accounts of a man trying to come to grips with modern death, that is to say death without God.’
As a major symbolist poet, Mallarme was interested in Art reflecting upon an emotion or idea rather than representing the natural world. He believed;
‘the sensation becomes the truth, not the time and place’.
He made many collaborations with artists of other disciplines e.g. Manet, Whistler, Munch, Debussy, Zola and Verlaine. The sound of Mallarme’s poems were as important and sometimes more important than the meaning. His most famous poem ‘un coup de cles’ was a major influence on hypertext. His use of the blank space and careful placement of words and punctuation on a page allowed non-linear and consequentially visual readings of the text.
In Mallarme’s pursuit for the ‘oeuvre pure’ he deduces that:
‘having found nothingness, I have found the beautiful’.
In the Anatole texts, it is apparent that Mallarme felt the inadequacy of words to translate the enormity of emotion he felt for his son’s death.
My reflections upon his texts attempt to combine the written words with visual equivalents to reveal the expansive meaning of the text. Each work consists of three or four painted objects arranged on the wall and floor; they are made of various materials e.g. wood, linen, paper, metal, oil paint and readymade chairs. The Mallarme text has been hand letter-pressed onto paper or linen by New North Press.
For more info on this project contact David Gryn at david@artprojx.com
david gryn blog 