Death Masks, Deneberg (1997)
The book’s cover material is made of leather. It is a creamy color with a hint of pink. Impressed on top center is the title of the book ‘Death Masks” in gold letters contained in a red background. Four golden trims frame the title piece. The cover is three dimensional. I run my fingers over it and feel the texture, terrain, the inconsistent lines like hills and valleys. It moves me to recite Isaiah 40:4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.
Death Masks is an artist book, not a bible. However, studying the medieval history of the book has been the most bible study I’ve ever done in my life. Now I’m hooked on it.
The first few pages are blank, including the front paste down which is loose. The pastedown is a single leaf pasted over the leather fold on the backcover.
Opening the book, I find the pages are rigged, almost torn, not straight or clean cut. This is obviously done by design, uncut. The textblock has the straight cut pages amongst the uneven and untrimmed edges. The endpaper is a folio. It is sewed right at the edge leaving 2 millimeters of unopened pages at the gutter.
Starting on page six, letter-pressed, is a green triangle with cut off corners making it an octagon. Carved out of the green background are the letters of the book’s title, Death Masks. These letters were carved out before the octagon was impressed on the page.
This book does not have any marked page numbers. There are 5 blank pages in the front and 6 blank pages on the back of the the book. 43 pages in the middle are printed on.
The pages on the right, Recto, spell one name on the top left corner in printed text. The first of which is “Elizabeth I” The rest of the page is blank. The next side over, Verso, the title of the poem. “Elizabeth I” Underneath the poem takes life, written in the English language. Separating this poem page from opposite the fold is a loose washi paper. On this recto page is an etching image. It is a colored drawing of Elizabth I with her eyes closed in orange and green.
When I first looked at the etching of the image, I was sure that there were two pages pasted together. The top page seemed to have been cut out as a window to allow the drawing on the second page to be seen. On closer examination I found this is not the case. It is a single page that was impressed to the point of creating the perspective of the depth.
There are 21 color portraits and 21 loose leafs that are transparent and light. Washi paper. These are 14.4cm. The book measures 20.5cm in length and 15cm in breadth.
This book was printed in 1997 on Czech hand made paper. Chine Colles is the method used to make impressions of the images in this book. Below is a video showing one way of executing this type of etching.
In this picture of the tailboard, it is easy to see the block signatures sewed to the spine. I can count 10 signatures of what I think are quartos. I will have to confirm this on the next appointment with the book.
Death Masks, as evident by its title, has a somber feeling. But sitting with it actually is peaceful and beautiful. It’s what we do with the inevitable transition from life. In this book it has been done into poems and art. I feel an appreciation and respect for the portraits of the dead.