Richard Tuttle, Early Auden, 1991
Accordion-folded book of etchings and letterpress text selections by the artist. Printed on handmade paper. Bound in vellum and chamois. Gold-leaf stamped. 12"x 9". 11 unnumbered pages: color illustrations; 32cm. Edition of 80. Hine Editions, 1991 (Limestone Press) Gift of Hank Hine.
"Tuttle's decision to illustrate passages he found particularly beautiful from poems written by Auden between 1929 and 1935, by chance coincides with the current reevaluation of the English poet's oeuvre. Although today progressive poets believe Auden's verse represents the antithesis of modernism, Tuttle perceives an uncanny parallel between the early and later parts of the 20th century (i.e., Constructivism and Minimalism,) and senses a comparative quality in poetry written during the late 1920s and early 1930s and today. The hard, bright edge in Auden's language, where words, like gold nuggets, are primary and embody the sustaining power of his thoughts, appeals to the artist as much as Auden's direct references to visual art." - Donna Stein.