Comments on: The art of Pierre Clayette, 1930–2005 http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2008/09/24/the-art-of-pierre-clayette-1930-2005/ • • • Being a journal by artist and designer John Coulthart, cataloguing interests, obsessions and passing enthusiasms. Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:46:24 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: John http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2008/09/24/the-art-of-pierre-clayette-1930-2005/comment-page-1/#comment-80942 John Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:02:59 +0000 http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2008/09/24/the-art-of-pierre-clayette-1930-2005/#comment-80942 Hi Will. <em>Morning of the Magicians</em> is the Ur-text of all the crank volumes which flooded the paperback stalls throughout the Sixties and Seventies (and which the late RT Gault's site documents). It also manages to transcend the books which followed by not really stating any grand theories outright, P & B were more concerned to throw a whole mass of disparate elements into the crucible and see what sparks flew as a result. That sustains its fascination and it's also what made their follow-up, <em>Impossible Possibilities</em> a disappointment when they started making ludicrous prognostications of what life will be like in the near future. I haven't seen a copy of <em>MotM</em> around for a while; keep intending to buy another as mine is old and battered. Caillois seems to have evaded my radar as a writer, only know his name via the Surrealist connections. I've got <em>The Book of Fantasy</em> and the original <em>Black Water</em> so I'm definitely interested in anything similar. Thanks for the tip. Hi Will. Morning of the Magicians is the Ur-text of all the crank volumes which flooded the paperback stalls throughout the Sixties and Seventies (and which the late RT Gault’s site documents). It also manages to transcend the books which followed by not really stating any grand theories outright, P & B were more concerned to throw a whole mass of disparate elements into the crucible and see what sparks flew as a result. That sustains its fascination and it’s also what made their follow-up, Impossible Possibilities a disappointment when they started making ludicrous prognostications of what life will be like in the near future. I haven’t seen a copy of MotM around for a while; keep intending to buy another as mine is old and battered.

Caillois seems to have evaded my radar as a writer, only know his name via the Surrealist connections. I’ve got The Book of Fantasy and the original Black Water so I’m definitely interested in anything similar. Thanks for the tip.

]]> By: Will Schofield http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2008/09/24/the-art-of-pierre-clayette-1930-2005/comment-page-1/#comment-80927 Will Schofield Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:35:47 +0000 http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2008/09/24/the-art-of-pierre-clayette-1930-2005/#comment-80927 This post hits on virtually all of my interests. Can't wait to read Morning of the Magicians especially. If you haven't picked it up, one of Caillois' fantasy anthologies was published in English in the 60s as The Dream Adventure: http://www.mossdreams.com/roger%20caillois.htm It's a nice companion to Borges' The Book of Fantasy and Calvino's Fantastic Tales. (And Manguel's Black Water anthologies.) I came to Caillois via a Cioran essay about "Stones." After that I started seeing his name crop up everywhere -- with Bataille (in the College of Sociology), the Surrealists, weird ethnographers, dream psychologists, you name it. Most significantly, perhaps, was his work piecing together and reviving The Saragossa Manuscript. I keep meaning to sit around for a few weeks in the library with a complete set of Diogenes. Thanks! This post hits on virtually all of my interests. Can’t wait to read Morning of the Magicians especially.

If you haven’t picked it up, one of Caillois’ fantasy anthologies was published in English in the 60s as The Dream Adventure:

http://www.mossdreams.com/roger%20caillois.htm

It’s a nice companion to Borges’ The Book of Fantasy and Calvino’s Fantastic Tales. (And Manguel’s Black Water anthologies.)

I came to Caillois via a Cioran essay about “Stones.” After that I started seeing his name crop up everywhere — with Bataille (in the College of Sociology), the Surrealists, weird ethnographers, dream psychologists, you name it. Most significantly, perhaps, was his work piecing together and reviving The Saragossa Manuscript. I keep meaning to sit around for a few weeks in the library with a complete set of Diogenes.

Thanks!

]]> By: John http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2008/09/24/the-art-of-pierre-clayette-1930-2005/comment-page-1/#comment-80912 John Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:22:50 +0000 http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2008/09/24/the-art-of-pierre-clayette-1930-2005/#comment-80912 They've both got that ribbed thing going on but I think that's as far as it goes. Clayette stays within the bounds of the probable so his Babel picture is all books and wood detailing. Giger veers quite happily into biomechanical abstraction, especially in his New York series of paintings which the Babel one most reminds me of. HRG has never been big on perspective either, most of his work tends to be very flat. I wonder whether the Babel picture was in colour originally; I suspect it probably was. They’ve both got that ribbed thing going on but I think that’s as far as it goes. Clayette stays within the bounds of the probable so his Babel picture is all books and wood detailing. Giger veers quite happily into biomechanical abstraction, especially in his New York series of paintings which the Babel one most reminds me of. HRG has never been big on perspective either, most of his work tends to be very flat.

I wonder whether the Babel picture was in colour originally; I suspect it probably was.

]]> By: Evan J. Peterson http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2008/09/24/the-art-of-pierre-clayette-1930-2005/comment-page-1/#comment-80845 Evan J. Peterson Wed, 24 Sep 2008 04:08:47 +0000 http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2008/09/24/the-art-of-pierre-clayette-1930-2005/#comment-80845 The Library of Babel immediately reminded me of Giger's landscapes. Do you think there's a connection? The Library of Babel immediately reminded me of Giger’s landscapes. Do you think there’s a connection?

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