About this artwork
In 1936, the Surrealist Paul Eluard wrote a collection of love poems inspired by his new wife, Nusch Eluard. Les Yeux Fertiles (Fertile Eyes), contains four offset illustrations by Eluard’s dear friend Pablo Picasso and an inscription that indicates the book was a gift to Surrealist poet Georges Hugnet. To emphasize this collaboration, Mary Reynolds bound the book in mottled undyed ostrich leather with a thin black strip on the spine that lists the title and author. Impressed between each gilded word on the spine are three dots, plus one on each end. Aesthetically and tactilely, there is a theme of bumpiness all over most of the book, with fleshy pores marking the distinct recesses of the animal’s skin where a feather once was. If one were to allow Surrealist association to take hold, every little dot and divot on the book could be viewed as an eye itself.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Ryerson and Burnham Libraries Special Collections
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Artist
- Mary Reynolds
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Title
- Les yeux fertiles (Fertile Eyes)
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Place
- Paris (Object made in:)
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Date
- 1936
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Medium
- Full ostrich with gold stamping on black calfskin; gold-speckled lilac endpapers; original paper covers bound in
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Inscriptions
- Inscribed: à Georges Hugnet, un des rares poètes que j'aime et bien. Paul Eluard
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Dimensions
- 12.5 × 19.3 × 2.5 cm (4 15/16 × 7 5/8 × 1 in.)
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Credit Line
- Mary Reynolds Collection Fund, Ryerson & Burnham Libraries
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Reference Number
- 2019.933
Extended information about this artwork
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
