Le surmâle: Roman moderne (Superman: A Modern Novel)
<p>In his last novel, playwright Alfred Jarry drew from psychoanalysis to tell the story of Andre Marcueil, who underestimates the effect his actions have on others. The intersection of man’s logic and machine automatism is a central theme; the story begins with a five-person bicycle race against a train, and concludes with Marcueil’s death from an electric chair nicknamed “the love machine.”</p> <p>Mary Reynolds created this binding for Jarry’s novel after the conclusion of World War II, upon her return to Paris from the safety of New York City. One of her more experimental designs, the cover is a plush, black goatskin accented with two leather “wings,” onlayed to the base of the spine. Anchored in this winged base is a metal corset stay—a metal support that creates a corset’s structure—that protrudes from the book's surface with the tensile force of a spring.</p> <p>In Jarry’s novel, the main character’s physical interactions with women are a central point of conflict. Marcueil consistently misattributes lust with love, which results in a woman’s death. At once fragile yet potentially sharp, the loose corset stay complicates a reader’s handling of the book. Freed from its garment, it stands erect against the gold-stamped title on the spine, unfurling like a proboscis of a butterfly, or perhaps is a reference to the myth of Icarus, the impetuous young man who flew too close to the sun.</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1945
- Dimensions
- 22.3 × 13.7 × 2.2 cm (8 13/16 × 5 7/16 × 7/8 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Artist
- Mary Reynolds
Artist
Textile
Mary Reynolds was an American artist and bookbinder active in Paris during the mid-twentieth century. Working primarily in hand-bound volumes and paper arts, she developed a distinctive practice that merged fine art with the craft tradition of bookbinding. Her work bridged Surrealist circles and the material culture of the book object itself. This profile will be expanded as more verified source material becomes available.
Full artist profile →More
More by Mary Reynolds
Loin de Rueil (Skin of Dreams)
1944 · Full red morocco binding with raised bands; author and title stamped in gold on spine; endpapers of trial proofs for Marcel Duchamp's 1935 cover of Minotaure; original paper covers bound in
Rrose Sélavy
1939 · Full sienna, pink, and beige goatskin with cotton cord, grey-card onlays with trial stamps of a typographic plate made for Duchamp's Box in a Valise. Endpapers printed in pochoir with fern-leaf pattern and hand-drawn insects in black ink
Les Enfants du limon: Roman (Children of Clay: Novel)
1938 · Bound in combination full morocco leather with gold lettering, leather doublure margins; marbled paper end leaves; original covers bound in
Les Mains libres: Dessins de Man Ray, illustrés par les poèmes de Paul Éluard (Free Hands: Drawings illustrated by the poems of Paul Éluard)
1937 · Full tan morocco binding; leather gloves onlaid on front and back covers; author and title stamped in palladium on spine; doublures; silk endpapers; top edge gilt; original paper covers bound in
Ubu roi: Drame en cinq actes (King Ubu: A Play in Five Acts)
1935 · Full tan morocco binding; boards die cut in the shape of U; onlays on spine in shape of B; black silk endleaves; crown stamped in gold on front endleaf; author stamped in gold on back endleaf; gilt edges; original paper covers bound in
La machine infernale: pièce en 4 actes
1934 · Full vellum binding, wine-colored morocco label with gold lettering on spine; vellum end leaves; original paper covers bound in
Record
Verified by WattsOS- Artist
- Mary Reynolds
- Year
- 1945
- Dimensions
- 22.3 × 13.7 × 2.2 cm (8 13/16 × 5 7/16 × 7/8 in.)
- Watts ID
- WW-1945-047748
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified