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50 double page spreads with 48 original lithographs on Okawara mould made paper
Each open page 26 x 40 in.
Each open page 66 x 103.6 cm.
Presented in a box bound in linen
Book (bound volume) Edition of 200 with 32 proofs
The Departure of the Argonaut (1918) is the travelogue and wartime diary of Alberto Savinio, one of the seminal figures in twentieth-century Italian arts and letters. Clemente’s accompanying images transcend traditional illustration, providing a subtle balance between the fantasy of the artist and the visual ideas of the text. Each chapter is treated in a fresh and different style, and in each a unity of word and image is achieved that represents the art of the illustrated book at its most ambitious. Clemente has stated that during his work on this project he became fascinated, as never before in his career, with the technical aspects of printmaking. He has used a broad range of lithographic techniques and materials to produce a remarkable variety of visual effects. His illumination of the text is a richly personal work, inventive, witty, and elegant.
Published as both a limited edition bound volume, and a portfolio edition of the 50 unbound, double paged spreads. Hand signed by the artist on the colophon page and numbered in type.
