Stanley William Hayter (English, 1901-1988)
Written by Georges Hugnet (French, 1906-1974)
L'Apocalypse
INV-2445
Stanley William Hayter (English, 1901-1988)
Written by Georges Hugnet (French, 1906-1974)Paris: GLM (Guy Lévis Mano), 1937
L'Apocalypse
Stanley William Hayter (English, 1901-1988) Written by Georges Hugnet (French, 1906-1974) →20th Centuryperiodical coverbook
Date
Paris: GLM (Guy Lévis Mano), 1937
Medium
Illustrated book with one engraving and soft-ground etching
Dimensions
15.2 × 9.9 cm (6 × 3 15/16 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Mary Reynolds Collection Fund, Ryerson & Burnham Libraries
Georges Hugnet and Stanley William Hayter collaborated on a few publication projects in the 1930s. The first apocalypse-themed portfolio featured six engravings and was published by Editions Jeanne Bucher with a poetic preface from Georges Hugnet in 1932. Later, this diminutive, boutique edition was published in 1937 by Éditions G.L.M. (Guy Lévis Mano) featuring a single new print by Hayter sewn into the binding, and reprinting Hugnet’s poem.
Hayter’s surreal illustration does not depict the exact images that Hugnet describes, such as death, or angels, but it captures the same feeling of catastrophe. Abstract forms, such as four horses and a skeleton, come in and out of focus. Hayter traveled to Spain in 1937 and the horrors of the Spanish Civil War appear in his imagery of the moment. This event may have influenced the republication of the earlier poem, perhaps with new urgency.
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