Suite para voz y corazón en traje negro / Suite pour voix et coeur en robe noire [Suite for Voice and Heart in Black Dress]

Estévez, Rolando

Notes: A complex book-object designed by Estévez and Laura Ruiz Montes in tribute to the singer Edith Piaf.

The text is a long poem Estévez in Spanish and French translation. The poem is digitally printed on many sheets assembled into two long, side-by-side fold-outs affixed to facing pages of the book. The illustrations, reproducing Estévez's line drawings, are pasted down on other pages, and they, too, fold out. The cover is decorated with a shell, a cut-out of a black dress that extends beyond the edges of the book, a picture of Piaf, and collage elements made from paper, cloth, and cardboard.

The main illustration is a double scroll attached to the right side of the book. The scroll unrolls to reveal a multi-sheet, handcolored illustration of the Eiffel Tower, overlaid with mesh with cut-out paper angels.

Labeled the "tercera edicion," it is the first by Ediciones El Fortín. The first edition was for the Premio del concurso de poesía José Jacinto Milanés in 1986; it was reprinted by Ediciones Matanzas as a chapbook in 1997. This is the thirtieth anniversary edition.

The late Estévez (1953–2023) was the great book artist of Cuba. He was for many years the artistic director of the acclaimed artist's-book collective Ediciones Vigía. Late in his life he began producing more elaborate and more personal books under the Ediciones El Fortíin imprint.

5 leaves. 7 by 9-3/4 inches; the folding broadsides inside fold-out to 72 inches; the scroll unfurls to 23 inches. One of 50 copies. Colección Puente de Hierro.

Edition + Condition: Scroll slightly flattened; else near fine.

Publication: Bellamar, Cuba: Ediciones El Fortín, 2016.

Item No: #306316

Price: $500