Hebdomeros: le paintre et son génie chez l'écrivain Hebdomeros: le paintre et son génie chez l'écrivain (Hebdomeros: The Painter and his Genius as Writer)

One of three official collaborations between Mary Reynolds and her lover Marcel Duchamp, this binding is a whirlwind of artistic detail and Surrealist thought. A striped slipcase is layered with vivid, overlapping sheets of goatskin on the front cover and striated with more neutral tones on the back. Ridges that run up and down the spine resemble a Greek column and evoke bone in both texture and color. In a bold, blocky font, the title and author are dynamically inlaid on the front and back cover, mirroring one another. Once opened, the inside of the front cover is a deep orange leather while the inside of the back is a shocking green. Altogether the book design is multifaceted, vibrant, and sensorially engaging, reflecting the content itself. Hebdomeros, Giorgio de Chirico’s only long-form written work, is experimental in narrative and lexical style. The book design—both inside and out—complements the “dreamlike” story of the stream-of-conscious thought narrative of the main character.

This work is currently on view in Frida Kahlo’s Month in Paris: A Friendship with Mary Reynolds, gallery 289.