The volumes here are part of the European tradition of the deluxe illustrated book—in which specialized publishers commission a painter or sculptor to illustrate the text of a distinguished author with original prints—but they expand its creative limits, incorporating unorthodox elements such as lace, burnt burlap, and gold leaf. Jean Fautrier and Alberto Burri belonged to a generation of European artists that began, after World War II, to emphasize the abstract, physical reality of painting. They used thickly encrusted paint, incorporated nontraditional materials, and even partially burned or cut their canvases in inventive practices they extended in their illustrated books. These volumes fill a gap in the Museum’s comprehensive collection of illustrated books, which previously did not include any works by Fautrier or Burri.

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