| Title | The Return of the Soldier |
| Artist / Creator | Poppy Dully |
| Place of Publication | Portland, Oregon |
| Publication Date | 2011 |
| Medium / Materials | Vintage library cloth bound book cover; original book pages printed with oil-based etchings; pages glued to Arches 150 paper folded accordion style and glued into cover. Bound with original cover, 8 monotype printed images. |
| Number of Pages | 9 |
| Dimensions (WxHxD) | 4.5 x 7 x .5 inches |
| Edition Size | Unique Altered Book |
| Signed & Numbered | Yes |
The Return of the Soldier by Poppy Dully - SOLD!
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This altered book started with a discarded library copy of the book The Return of the Soldier. The artist tells us, "I recognized the author’s name and with further research I discovered a 1982 film based on the book. I viewed the film and although it has an outstanding cast, Alan Bates, Julie Christie, Ann Margaret and Glenna Jackson, it diverted in significant and important ways from the book. However, I referenced a select number of the film’s scenes to create the monotypes."
The book Return of the Soldier and its author, Rebecca West, are recommended. The book is the first World War I book written by a woman. It was published in 1918. It is the story of a shell-shocked, amnesiac soldier who can’t recollect his present life when he returns from the frontlines. He must make a sacrifice before he can resume his life. Rebecca West, a pen name for Cicely Isabel Fairfield (1892-1983) was a prolific English writer and her life story would be a fascinating movie.
Artist Bio
Artist Statement Poppy Dully’s interest in combining monotypes and book pages into altered books started from four sources: painting mentor Leigh Hyams’ pen and ink artist’s books; William Kentridge’s films and drawings on book pages; the films of French film director Agnes Varda; and a long ago college art assignment to study film for compositional references. When Poppy creates an altered book with monotypes she looks for a book that will relate in its size, format, and text with the film images. With a vintage set of psychology textbooks, Poppy began her experiment with altered books. Using a digital camera, she photographs scenes from the film that seem most eventful. From these photos, she selects 8 to 10 that can tell the story visually. These photos are her source material for the monotypes which she creates by drawing on the plate and then rolling and wiping off oil based ink on the reverse side of plexi-glass plates before printing on the book pages that she has separated from the book. She backs the dried monotypes onto accordion pages that she reassembles in the book’s original cover. Poppy continues to explore the relationship of storytelling in film and books in her altered books. Sometimes it is the discovery of a second hand book that connects her to a film and other times it is the moving images of the film that connects her to a book. Artist Biography Poppy Dully (b.1947, San Francisco, CA) is a Portland, Oregon painter, printmaker, and book artist. She works in acrylics, oil, pen, and ink on a variety of surfaces. She studied design and cultural anthropology as an undergraduate at University of California, Berkeley, received a Masters in Public Health from University of California Los Angeles and worked for over 20 years in fundraising and non profit management in Portland. She has shown her paintings and prints around the Northwest since 1998. Poppy’s altered book with monotypes, After Cleo, 5 to 7, was exhibited in the College Book Art Association nationally juried show at the 23 Sandy Gallery in December 2009.