Catalogue entry
Eight woodcuts with title page and tailpiece on handmade paper, printed by François Lafranca, Lugano, Switzerland, published by Peter Blum, New York and Zurich in an edition of 35
Each inscribed ‘Francesco Clemente’ b.r. and ‘5/35’, P07848 and P07838 not inscribed
Purchased from Peter Blum Editions (Grant-in-Aid) 1983
P07848 [from] High Fever 1982 [P07830-P07838; P07848; complete]
Title page with woodcut on paper 26 1/2×21 5/8-(673 × 549)
Clemente titled this portfolio in Italian, ‘Febbre Alta’. It is accompanied by a booklet with a poem by Valerio Magrelli which the artist translates into English as follows:
I want one day
to turn into marble
without any nerves
or tendons or veins.
Dry stone only,
alive, profound and white,
keeping still and relying
only on itself
Though Clemente resists explaining his imagery, preferring to assert the intuitive nature of his work, ‘High Fever’ is said to be concerned with the birth of his daughter. The poem may therefore refer to his crying out against the anguish of childbirth. There is no narrative but from the simple heart, symbol of declared love with his and his wife's initials, on the title page to the circular tailpiece the prints are a single serial work, the order of which is established not by numbering but by the order of illustrations in the accompanying booklet… (read more)
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