Le mythe de la Roche Perçee: poeme (The Myth of the Pierced Rock)

Yves Tanguys Le mythe de la Roche Percee from 1947 is a livre dartist published by Editions Hemispheres in Paris, consisting of 25 pages printed on Shadowmould paper with three pencil-signed etchings by Tanguy that exemplify the Surrealist painters contribution to the tradition of the artists book, in which the visual image and the literary text are combined in a single object that is both a book and a work of art. The Myth of the Pierced Rock, which takes its title from a geological formation that provides a visual metaphor for the Surrealist investigation of the relationship between the visible and the hidden, the exterior and the interior, and the natural and the artificial, provided Tanguy with a literary framework for the biomorphic forms and infinite spaces of his visual imagination. The three etchings, which are printed on separate sheets and signed in pencil by the artist, represent Tanguys most accomplished work in the print medium, with the biomorphic forms and atmospheric spaces of his paintings translated into the linear medium of etching with a fidelity that preserves the uncanny quality of the original. The Shadowmould paper, which provides a rich, textured ground for the etchings and the text, gives the book the physical presence and material quality that distinguish the livre dartist from the ordinary printed book. The year 1947 places this book in the period of Tanguys greatest public recognition, when his paintings were being exhibited in major museums and his prints were being published in limited editions for collectors.

Tanguys livre dartist is a significant contribution to the tradition of the Surrealist book and the broader history of the collaboration between visual artists and writers, and Le mythe de la Roche Percee demonstrates the combination of literary and visual imagination that characterizes the best artists books. The book influenced the development of the livre dartist and the broader tradition of art that combines word and image.

A 1947 livre dartist by Tanguy published by Editions Hemispheres on Shadowmould paper with three pencil-signed etchings, combining the literary framework of The Myth of the Pierced Rock with the biomorphic dream landscapes of his Surrealist paintings in the tradition of the artists book that unites word and image.