Dotremont au Pays des Logoneiges by Caroline Ghyselen

In May 1976, poet and Cobra co-founder Christian Dotremont travelled to the Sámi homeland with young art historian Caroline Ghyselen. Published forty years later, this book is the first account of that journey to the land of “logoneiges”, the logograms Dotremont traced in the snow. It was published by Les Évadés du Poème 2 in an edition of 500 numbered copies.

The entire book is set in a single family, Loïc Sander’s Trianon, using all four of its optical sizes. Although each comes in multiple weights, the book stays almost entirely in Light. The fine hairline strokes make the letters seem pierced by light, evoking snow and sunlight. Trianon Grande is used for the cover, and for the section openers with their large roman numerals and the full-page quotations, in Light and pale grey on white or grey pages. Subtitles are in Trianon Display Light. The running text is in Trianon Text Light, with the italic emphasising Dotremont’s words, and captions are in Trianon Caption Light at pt, for optimal legibility at small sizes.

The design balances the text, the travel photographs and reproductions of Dotremont’s works, all set on a discreet grid that allows for subtle shifts, changes of rhythm and play with negative space. This moving layout echoes the physical gesture of Dotremont tracing his logograms in the snow, something close to a dance. Captions also take part in it, anchoring or shifting the space. Chapter openers and pauses punctuate the narrative, and a tone-on-tone use of colour sets the atmosphere. Pages with images are set on a pale grey background, while the text runs on white, with the occasional full-page opener or double-page photograph.

The book is printed on Munken Lynx, a matte, natural white paper that is soft to the touch. It evens out the images and gives them a discreet patina. The stock stays in keeping with the world of snow without being icy white, preserving a certain nostalgia and the feel of a travel journal.

See the full case study on pascallienard.com.