éditions Leal Torres: Les Cygnes sauvages

Collaborators: Atelier du Livre d’Art & de l’Estampe de l’Imprimerie nationale (IN Groupe)
Kenneth White
Marie-Claude White
Yuko Kitta
Ateliers Moret
Atelier Casal
V&P Agencement
VERGLASS°

Les Cygnes sauvages (Wild Swans) is part of Kenneth White’s waybooks series. With this work — at once a travelogue and a collection of haikus — the contemporary philosopher leads the reader from the tentacular city of Tokyo to the untamed isle of Hokkaido in the late eighties. With a blend of freestyle verse and nimble observations about mass culture in Japan, he draws the reader along on a pilgrimage in the footsteps of the poet Bashō who traveled this very road to the deep North three centuries earlier.

This collectible re-edition, a monument in his œuvre, is a physical and spiritual journey accompanied by three series of photographs by the author’s wife, Marie-Claude White, who also translated the work. Seen through the photographer’s lens, seaweed, bark and foam become delicate prints that transport the viewer to Japan’s distant landscapes.
Each book is a unique piece and is presented wrapped in a linen slipcover by the Japanese artist Yuko Kitta, who uses all-natural dyes to hand-make gradient indigo envelopes, offering a companion piece for this artwork.

Made of wood, fabric, glass and paper, this precious book — produced in a limited edition of 30 examples — is a sensual and ritualistic experience as much as a dive into the relationship between man and Earth that is essential to restore.

The book Les Cygnes sauvages was awarded the Jury’s Coup de Cœur Prize at the 2023 Nuit du Livre.

Publication date: March 2022
Box size: 42,5 x 32,7 cm
Book size: 28,5 x 22 cm
Features a glass cover and coptic stitch binding.
Produces in letterpress printing.

18/30