Rimbaud

As a teenager I studied French and literature, and loved Arthur Rimbaud’s poems. I was pleased with a recent book jacket assignment: a fictitious biography of the man. The author bases his text on the true facts of the prodigy poet’s life. Structurally the book hops around, beginning after his death, moving back and forth in time. As I read, I became increasingly immersed in the time and place (late 19th century France and Africa). Duffy’s language is beautifully and appropriately poetic; the form of the book fits the content.



Part of the fun of this project was mixing found imagery. I had the help of researcher Toby Greenberg to find a rare photo of young Rimbaud in his First Communion finery, the halftone dot from the reprinted image adding an inadvertent grunge effect.. I included my own photos of water massaged in Adobe Photoshop, several “smoke” brushes in Photoshop to conjure green mist and a pair of actual dragonfly wings laid gently on the scanner to build the Green Fairy. Mixed media indeed. Art director John Fontana at Doubleday tightly cropped the illustration asymmetrically and laid in some cool type that perfectly suggests that original punk, Rimbaud. See here my original sketch alongside the finish.