Letter and Image | Legion of Honor | San Francisco

My favorite room in San Francisco's Legion of Honor is The Reva and David Logan Gallery of Illustrated Books. So it's a huge pleasure for me that curator Stephen Woodall has included one of my hand-painted books in his current show there, Letter and Image: Inspired Alphabets. You'll find it nestled between Léger and Le Corbusier, directly behind Kurt Schwitters and Theo van Doesburg. Other artists include Claes Oldenburg, Russel Maret and Natalia Goncharova. Esteemed company!

The book he has chosen to exhibit is Respite (Markandya). Woodall describes it: "Through his hand-cut and painted lettering in Respite (Markandaya), Schumaker related a parable without visually depicting it. The story––which came to the artist in a dream and which he sees as a variation of one in the Sanskrit text Bhagavad-Gita––follows a small boy emerging from the mouth of a whale. The text over several pages reads: " 'I hope you enjoyed your rest, my son,' said the whale / then it turned and re-entered the waters / the little boy smiled, waved good-bye, and turning towards the rising son / began to sweep the beach."

The book will be on display from 04 March thru 02 July 2017.
For information: Legion of Honor

Or, to see the entire book, please visit my earlier blog posting: Markandeya.