About The Work
In 1934, an edition of Raymond Roussel's epic non-narrative poem, New Impressions of Africa, was published with a series of illustrations. In Roussel's prose and poetry, one imagines de Chirico-esque vacancies populated by impossible machines and humans performing unmotivated actions. The illustrator was Henri Zo. Roussel never met Zo. Zo never read the poem; and anyway the instructions for drawings that Roussel sent to Zo, through a detective agency, had a tangential connection to his already opaque poem. Roussel sent Zo generic phrases such as, 'Nocturnal landscape. Very starry sky with a thin crescent moon. (no people.)' Zo would send him an adequate illustration. These illustrations have a beautiful blankness to them, probably due to the lack of narrative information given to the illustrator who functioned as a police sketch artist trying to reconstruct Roussel's brain from disembodied fragments of thought.
Courtesy of Carolina Nitsch
About Matthew Weinstein
From The Magazine
Hand painted Sumi ink with screen print on Coventry rag 335gsm paper
58.50 x 33.75 in
148.6 x 85.7 cm
Signed, dated, numbered in pencil recto
About The Work
In 1934, an edition of Raymond Roussel's epic non-narrative poem, New Impressions of Africa, was published with a series of illustrations. In Roussel's prose and poetry, one imagines de Chirico-esque vacancies populated by impossible machines and humans performing unmotivated actions. The illustrator was Henri Zo. Roussel never met Zo. Zo never read the poem; and anyway the instructions for drawings that Roussel sent to Zo, through a detective agency, had a tangential connection to his already opaque poem. Roussel sent Zo generic phrases such as, 'Nocturnal landscape. Very starry sky with a thin crescent moon. (no people.)' Zo would send him an adequate illustration. These illustrations have a beautiful blankness to them, probably due to the lack of narrative information given to the illustrator who functioned as a police sketch artist trying to reconstruct Roussel's brain from disembodied fragments of thought.
Courtesy of Carolina Nitsch
About Matthew Weinstein
From The Magazine
- Ships in 1 to 2 weeks from New York.
- This work is final sale and not eligible for return.
- Questions about this work?
- Interested in other works by this artist or other artists? We will source them for you.
- Want to pay in installments?
Contact an Artspace Advisor
advisor@artspace.com