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| 03 |
| A Green Suitcase |
Inside this leather suitcase is a green box measuring 33.2 x 28 x 2.5 cm. Tulse Luper
published this box in an edition limited to 300 copies in October 1934. It contains
94 documents. Fifteen are reproductions of drawings and paintings or photographs
of 'glass' paintings; the other seventy-nine are facsimile reproductions of hand-written
notes which range from a ten-page folded sheet to a six-word fragment on a scrap
of squared paper. The ninety-four items are loose in the box and no indication of
a preferred sequence is given. Each of the notes is reproduced with a fanatical exactitude
on a wide variety of papers torn around templates to the shape of the original. Some
of them are entirely textual, others are combined with sketches. Some items flicker
like a momentary thought; some have been returned to again and again: erasures, underlinings,
stresses and amendments abound - modulations of an idea are sometimes revealed by
a calligraphic sign - subtle inflexions may be apparent only in a difference of writing instrument.
This box is a work of art in its own right, a literary masterpiece having a unique
form. Its stature among the documents of modern art is immense - yet it is probably
the least known. Its comparative neglect is due to the fact that so little has been
done to assist a clear understanding of what the notes say. There is no typeset version,
even in French - the language in which the notes were written - and few have been
translated into English. The work must be made more fully accessible and the essential
first step is a full English version, a full version for there is no doubt that anything
far short of a complete publication of all ninety-four documents can be only marginally
informative. Not only a translation of language is required, if the quality of the original manuscripts is not to be diminished too severely typographical equivalents
for the calligraphic complexities must be found. Luper's gesture, an outrageously
lavish publication of as precise a reproduction of the manuscripts as could be devised
- including every blot and tear - was not a perversity but a perfectly estimated answer
to the needs of the situation. The truth is that anything other than the facsimiles
themselves cannot fully convey the extraordinary quality of the box as an art object.
However, some fairly satisfactory typographical representation of the documents is
possible and should be attempted. Richard Hamilton, a senior VFI scholar, is examining
the problem and, in the not too distant future, hopes to indicate a possible approach.
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Peter Greenaway | ......... |  |