despalles overcomes the distance that still exists between the German and French language areas. Thus the artist's books of the edition are mostly conceived from the outset as bilingual, French and German, or even trilingual. As a rule, they appear as first publications, always with unpublished translations. In them, artists and poets from different aesthetic categories meet.
Johannes Strugalla /
Ovid
forma
What makes the beauty of the human body (Latin: forma)?
The artist investigates the illusory quality of beauty and the impact of the drawn line. The beautiful
form, is reduced to a line and the evocative power of the shape in the photo appears in a different light,
producing another kind of beauty.
77 india ink drawings by Johannes Strugalla.
Original texts in Latin distichs by Ovid, taken from Ars amatoria
Trilingual: Latin, German, French.
New translations into German and French by Françoise Despalles and Johannes Strugalla.
Digitalized ink drawings. Digital processing by Françoise Despalles.
104 pages, 30,5 × 21 cm. Ultrachrome print, on Japanese paper.
Edition: 38 numbered and signed copies, and 6 copies (I–VI)
with a Suite of original drawings in a slipcase.
Mainz / Paris, 2006.
