Accent & Hazard
Paris, Printed by Jacques Murray at the Stramur-Presse, 1951.
Small folio, [52] leaves in 10 unbound sections, comprising facsimile manuscript (etched), numerous vignettes and section titles (etching and aquatint, in one or two colours), full-page title (etching and aquatint, three colours), and 8 folding plates (etching and aquatint, in one, two, or three colours).
Loose, as issued, in the original colour pictorial wrappers (etching and aquatint, three colours); covers a little browned and foxed, with some trifling wear at the extremities; some offsetting and browning to the paper; an excellent copy in the original slipcase with paper title-label (slightly worn and creased with a repaired split to one join).
Number 1 of 65 copies signed by Alister Kershaw, David Strachan and Jacques Murray, 'hand-printed on papier vélin de Johannot, and the plates cancelled. The printing consists of fifty copies numbered 1 to 50 and fifteen copies not for sale, marked A to O. These poems by Alister Kershaw are in facsimile of the author's manuscript. Colour-etchings by David Strachan. Composition, cover and title-pages by Jacques Murray'. The seven poems are: 'The Dead Man', 'The Poet', 'The Lover', 'The Blind Man', 'The Idiot', 'The Criminal', and 'The Drunkard'. Each is presented in a section of six leaves with a facsimile manuscript title, facsimile manuscript of the poem, two vignette illustrations, two vignette titles, and a double-page plate. The final plate (folding in three) is untitled and is not accompanied by a poem. The Australian artist David Strachan (1919-1970) settled in Paris in 1948. 'His paintings, included by Peter Bellew in an exhibition at the Musée National d'Art Moderne, had been well-received by French critics two years earlier. In 1950 he began tentative experiments in etching. These led to the formation of the Stramur-Presse, a business venture which published etchings and lithographs of leading French and English artists. His most important project was a series of twenty-two colour etchings illustrating Alister Kershaw's book of poems, "Accent & Hazard" (Paris, 1951).... He lived in London in 1955-57.... His paintings became progressively less soft in effect, his palette brightened, and his forms, especially the still-lifes, became spikier.... In May 1960 Strachan returned to Sydney.... Over the ensuing years he involved himself energetically with the art scene, exhibiting [and] teaching ... His paintings were out of harmony with the prevailing fashion for abstraction, but he won the Wynne prize for landscape painting in 1961 and 1964 (shared)' ('Australian Dictionary of Biography'). His untimely death was as a result of injuries received in a motorcar accident.
Item #131271
Price (AUD):
$5,000.00