La prose du Transsibérien et de la Petite Jehanne de France

"La prose du Transsibérien et de la Petite Jehanne de France" (Prose of the Trans-Siberian and of Little Jehanne of France) is a collaborative artists' book by Blaise Cendrars and Sonia Delaunay-Terk. The book features a poem by Cendrars about a journey through Russia on the Trans-Siberian Express in 1905, during the first Russian Revolution, interlaced with an almost-abstract pochoir print by Delaunay-Terk. The work, published in 1913, is considered a milestone in the evolution of artist's books [The Century of Artists' Books, Drucker, Granary, 1994, p50] as well as modernist poetry [James Sallis, Boston Globe [http://www.grasslimb.com/sallis/GlobeColumns/globe.07.cendrars.html] ] and abstract art.

It is often called one of the most beautiful books ever printed. [Yale University Press, [http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300141894] ] Cendrars himself referred to the work as ‘a sad poem printed on sunlight’. [Quoted in Prose du Transsibérien, Chris Michaelides, British Library Podcast transcribed [http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/breakingtherules/images/btrtranssiberien.pdf] ]

Cendrars and the New Man Press

Blaise Cendrars was the nom-de-plume for Fréderic Louis Sauser, a play on Braise (fire) and Cendres (ash); 'writing is being burned alive, but it also means being reborn from the ashes'. [Quoted in Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Netherlands Online, [http://www.kb.nl/bc/koopman/1890-1919/c43-en.html] ] Born in Switzerland, at 15 he had run away from home to train as an apprentice jeweller in St Petersburg, but continued to travel, including an important stay in New York where he wrote his first major poem "Les Pâques à New York", 1912 , before settling in Paris [Interview with Cendrars, 1950 [http://www.parisreview.org/media/4388_CENDRARS.pdf] ] .

Once in Paris, he started a small press, "Éditions des Hommes Nouveaux" (New Man Editions) with the help of an anarchist who owned a clandestine printing press at the Mouzaïa Quarter, 19th arrondissement. His first edition, 125 copies of "Les Pâques à New York", was published October 1912 [Interview with Blaise Cendrars, Paris Review, p15 [http://www.parisreview.org/media/4388_CENDRARS.pdf] ] . Despite failing to sell a single copy, he pressed ahead with the second book, "La prose du Transsibérien", published June 1913. Intended as an edition of 150, only 60 copies were printed, of which about 30 are thought to survive [Enrichement de la Bibliotheque nationale 1961-73, quoted in Sims Reed Rare Books, Dada Futurism etc, 2008 p40] . The book, a series of 4 sheets glued together in an accordion style binding, measures 199cm tall when unfolded; the height of all 150 end to end would have equalled the height of the Eiffel Tower, a potent symbol of modernity at the time, and referenced in both the poem and the print.

" [The poem] describes the 16-year old poet’s epic, perhaps imaginary, train journey from Moscow to Harbin (in Mongolia) during the Russo-Japanese War and the Russian Revolution of 1905. The route is shown on the contemporary map printed at the top right of the sheet. It is a long, oppressive ride through Russia with apocalyptic scenes of war and revolution, and descriptions of cold, hunger, death and devastation which worsen as the train follows its eastward course and are punctuated by the repeated, melancholy question of Jehanne, the poet's companion, "Dis Blaise, sommes nous bien loin de Montmartre?" (Blaise, are we very far from Montmartre?')" Chris Michaelides [Podcast by Chris Michaelides, British Library, transcribed at [http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/breakingtherules/images/btrtranssiberien.pdf] ]

The book is an early example of the deliberate use of multiple fonts - twelve in all - in different sizes and colours to suggest movement and differing moods, contemporaneous to similar experiments by the Italian futurists. It is also unusual for 'defying the codex form' [The Century of Artist's Books, Drucker, Granary, 1995 p51] and for placing the images on an equal footing to the text; they run parallel and complementary to the text, rather than as illustrative or decorative additions.

imultaneity and the Parisian Avant-Garde

It was through Guillaume Apollinaire, a mutual friend, that Cendrars was to meet Sonia and her husband Robert Delaunay, members of the Parisian avant-garde, leading exponents of cubism, and inventors of the term "Simultaneity".

The Delaunays had coined the word from their study of Chevreul's laws of simultaneous contrast. [Chevreul's Law of Simultaneous Contrast of Colours [http://books.google.com/books?id=KmEDAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA2-PA150&dq=The+Chevreul+Illusion&lr=&as_brr=1#PPA3-IA1,M2] ] This new style had first appeared in April 1912 with Robert Delaunay's series of paintings of "Fenêtres" (Windows) followed closely by Sonia's abstract "Contrastes Simultanés" and was boldly taken up by both husband and wife for the rest of their careers.

"The intensity of the colour field is heightened in accordance with the law of simultaneous contrast: orange seen next to green becomes more red, while green seen next to orange appears more blue. These constant two-way influences create an unusual vibration in the eye of the viewer. Delaunay read this phenomenon as movement and rhythm and understood it as the painting appropriate to a modern society in motion." [Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Düchting, Taschen 1994, p35]

The series of "Windows", with their use of the Eiffel Tower as the central theme, were a direct influence on Sonia's contributions to the poem; again, the eye was supposed to move between elements of the picture and the words creating a sensation of speed and disorientation that echoed the poem's theme of travel. The book is contained in a wrapper which proudly declares it the "first simultaneous book'. It also contains a map of Siberia at the beginning of the book, showing the route of the train journey.

Reception of the Book

When published, the book was to cause a sensation in the avant-garde circles in Paris. [Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Düchting, Taschen 1994, p38] Many, if not most, of the surviving copies are now held by major museums and libraries, including the V&A, Tate Modern , MOMA, the Hermitage, Swiss National Library [Swiss National Library. [http://www.nb.admin.ch/slb/org/01549/01550/01555/01557/index.html?lang=en Annual report 2006. Outstanding acquisitions. Swiss literary archives.] Retrieved September 16, 2008.] , New York Public Library [New York Public Library. [http://catnyp.nypl.org/record=b7545312 Catalog entry for "La prose du Transsibérien et de la petite Jehanne de France".] Retrieved September 16, 2008.] , Getty Research Institute [Getty Research Institute [http://library.getty.edu:8888/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=237040 Catalog entry for "La prose du Transsibérien et de La petite Jehanne de France".] Retrieved September 16, 2008.] and the University of Texas at Austin Library [University of Texas at Austin Libraries. [http://catalog.lib.utexas.edu/record=b4780818 Catalog entry for "La prose du Transsibérien et de la Petite Jehanne de France".] Retrieved September 16, 2008.] . It is often exhibited framed, removing it from its origins as an artist's book. Copies are also occasionally referred to as unique paintings. [Tate Collection. [http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=3715&searchid=10392 Sonia Delaunay 1885-1979. Prose on the Trans-Siberian Railway and of Little Jehanne of France.] Retrieved September 16, 2008.]

References

* [http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/metaphor/LaProseMedium.jpg&imgrefurl=http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/metaphor/program.html&h=1484&w=267&sz=56&hl=en&start=14&um=1&usg=__P4ekkqYyCnyqKrpHZCEVey_fzYQ=&tbnid=JVD-Ck4b6yF_YM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=27&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dla%2Bprose%2Bde%2Btranssiberien%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26sa%3DN The whole book reproduced]
* [http://faculty.dwc.edu/wellman/CENDRARS.html The whole poem, translated by Donald Wellman]
* [http://www.thedrunkenboat.com/cendrars.html The whole poem, translated by Ekaterina Likhtik]
* [http://www.parisreview.org/media/4388_CENDRARS.pdf Interview with Cendrars, 1950, Paris Review Available Online]
* Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Düchting, Taschen 1994
* The Century of Artists' Books, Drucker, Granary, 1995
* Artists and Prints: Masterworks from The Museum of Modern Art, New York: Wye, MOMA, 2004
* [http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/breakingtherules/images/btrtranssiberien.pdf Prose du Transsibérien, Chris Michaelides, British Library Podcast transcribed]
* Oxford Art Online: Sonia Delaunay-Terk and Blaise Cendrars
* Dada, Futurism, Surrealism, Expressionism, Constructivism, Sims Reed, Rare Books, London, 2008

Notes