| Title | Aristotle's Poetics and the Name of the Rose |
| Artist / Creator | Poppy Dully |
| Place of Publication | Portland, OR |
| Publication Date | 2013 |
| Process / Technique | Original pages printed by J. M. Dent & Sons, and E.P. Dutton & Co. |
| Number of Images | 18 monotypes |
| Image Process | Monotypes on found printed pages |
| Structure / Binding | Altered found book. Text block replaced with new accordion structure using pages from the old book. |
| Paper Stock | Found pages and Arches 150# |
| Number of Pages | 20 two-sided panels, 40 pages |
| Dimensions (WxHxD) | 4.25 x 7 x 1 inches |
| Edition Size | Unique |
| Signed & Numbered | Yes |
Aristotle's Poetics and the Name of the Rose by Poppy Dully - SOLD!
Sold
My altered books are the products of discoveries, bringing together books and films. The 1934 Everyman’s Library edition of Aristotle’s Poetics led me to the historical murder mystery The Name of the Rose (1980) by Umberto Eco. The murders hinge on the contents of Aristotle’s second book of Poetics. The novel led me to the film The Name of the Rose (1986) directed by Jean-Jacques Annand. The film is a remarkable recreation of a medieval Benedictine monastery in the fourteenth century. I loved the movie’s details: the scriptorium for illuminated books, the labyrinth of the secret library, the Romanesque art, the contrasts in the religious orders, the horrors of the Inquisition, the early scientific devices, and the Brueghel-like faces of the actors. The book and film are filled with historical, literary, biblical, and philosophical references and the reader or viewer is never certain what is true and what is false. Using the film as my guide, I created 18 monotypes which briefly tell the story in the novel. I printed the monotypes on the pages of Aristotle’s Poetics. The monotypes were glued on an accordion book of Arches 150# paper and mounted in the original cover with dust jacket. There is an appropriate quote in the novel, “books always speak of other books, and every story tells a story that has already been told.
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.