Marguerite Humeau and George Oxley, Surface Horizon

PARIS: LAFAYETTE ANTICIPATIONS, 2021

I copy-edited and proofread this artist's book published on the occasion of the exhibition Surface Horizon by artists Jean-Marie Appriou and Marguerite Humeau from June 17 to September 5, 2021.

Publisher description: This book pays homage to the theory of signatures and the way in which it fueled the artist's imagination. The work, designed by Marguerite Humeau and produced with the precious help of the Atelier Pierre Pierre and Manon Bruet, takes the form of botanical manuals and medieval herbaria.

It nevertheless magnifies a collection of a new genre, made up of invisible and often denigrated species. Each plant that fueled the artist's reflections is the subject of a digitized plate from the National Herbarium, reworked and reinterpreted to reveal its sculptural nature. 

The book includes 130 plates from the National Herbarium of Paris as well as other major international herbaria, printed in silver ink. In the center, 9 unpublished drawings by Marguerite Humeau have been reinterpreted in risography and printed at Lafayette Anticipations.