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Sonia Deluanay-Terk,
La Prose du Transsiberian et de la petite Jehanne de France,
1913
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Some of Marinetti's work was also in reaction to
the work that came out of the Arts and Crafts era. He preferred
fluidity, movement, variety, and freedom to use many typefaces and
colors of ink to create the dynamic effect of "words in liberty"
rather than be bound to huge initials and mythological vegetation.27
Another very influential
French work from this period was La Prose du Transsibérian et de
la petite Jehanne de France (1913). This work, created by Sonia
Deluanay-Terk (1885-1979) and published by Baise Cendrars (1887-1961),
was advanced for its time because of its interest in finding a relationship
between structure and content. The piece which refers to the newly
constructed Trans-Siberian railroad, was not designed in a codex
fashion. Rather, it was constructed in a way that visually relates
to the railroad and also to the Eiffel Tower that is mentioned in
the poem and appears in the colorful painting. It is made up of
four long sheets glued together and then folded (once vertically
and 21 times horizontally) and fits into a hand painted wrapper.
When unfolded it reaches a height of six feet. Three hundred of
these were to be produced, which if joined together would have reached
the exact height of the Eiffel Tower.28 On the left side
of the work bright, dramatic watercolor decorations are painted
using a stencil which provides unity to the edition. In contrast,
on the right side, the color is painted more lightly, outlining
and supporting the passages of poetry that are also printed in colorful
inks.29
This work is important,
not only because of the unique way it combines text and image, but
also in that its folded construction and size is very unusual for
this early cubist period in which paintings for the most part had
shrunk to a more domestic scale. Since the time of the scroll, few
if any, "private reading experiences"30 had been created
in such proportions and creating a "book" in this format was a remarkable
concept and a structural achievement.
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