Serge Charchoune
Merlin James
Designed by James Brook
Edition of 1,000
Published by Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh and The Smart Museum of Art, Chicago, 2013
Publication supported by Charlotte Artus, Artus Art, London
Printed by Allander, Edinburgh
80 pages with hard cover
210 x 148 mm
A book about the work of the Franco-Russian painter Serge Charchoune, which was published to coincide with an exhibition of Charchoune's work that was shown in Edinburgh and Chicago. The exhibition was curated by the Glasgow-based artist Merlin James, who was keen that the book mark a new level of scholarship around this under-researched figure, providing an in-depth critical analysis of Charchoune's career and documenting the exhibits in catalogue raisoneé detail. I developed a design based on the visual language of the catalogue raisoneé, that ordered Merlin James' extensive research for each painting in the exhibition in a rationalised and accessible manner. Two illustrated essays by Merlin James and Annick Morard contextualise Charchoune's work, and gave me the opportunity to develop a playful rhythm with the positioning of images within the text. The book was printed on Hello Silk and was casebound with a matt grey cover complete with Royal Blue endpapers, giving a sense of a book that was slightly out of time.
