Dali	Fini	Bachelier	Nowak	Parkes	Hart	Rops	Fields	Lichtenfels	Bubacco
Von Bayros	Andrei	Apocalypse	Individual Work	Jewelry	Objet	Perfume Factice	Books	Posters	Exhibitions

Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 63

When I received my copy of 13 Plus 1 by Edgar Allan Poe I was very
excited to get cozy with a steamy cup of tea and immerse myself in the
dark and romantic poetry of one of my favorite authors. With the piano
version of Franz Liszt’s “Totentanz” playing softly in the background
— a very Poe-esque piece of classical music — I opened the cover to
find a unique and delicately handsome pair of creatures greeting me. It
was as if they were waiting in a tranquil state of rest to let me into the
collaborated world of Poe and Anne Bachelier. Under the impression
that this would be like any other literary “greatest hits” book, I was very
much mistaken. I found myself in this fantastical world of dark images
and intricate filigree. Even the font is reminiscent of the Romantic
era. What a treat it was to not only read the works of Poe, but also
to get to know the extremely talented French artist Anne Bachelier.
Edgar Allan Poe is, of course, the quintessential purveyor of the
macabre. His poetry and short stories represent love and sorrow,
death and morbidness. His eerie narratives paint vivid pictures in our
imaginations as Anne paints for us her own luminous perceptions
to illustrate each story. Her frighteningly whimsical characters give
the feel of an obscure masquerade so that the art and literature
complement one another beautifully in a way that is almost meant to be. Her
technique with the brush is soft with a feeling of weightlessness, of floating effortlessly
through a magical world. Every piece in her rich body of work seems to have been plucked from a
storybook detailing a specific scene of events frozen and preserved in place and time, transforming
characters into darkly angelic creatures, skeletal gods, and gate-keepers.
Anyone who knows the works of Poe is familiar with the sad romanticism in his stories. Bachelier
captures the darkness of love and loss perfectly. Poe was the seminal American Romantic an
offspring of a movement born of the great English poets (Shelley, Byron, Coleridge, Keats), an
artistic, literary and intellectual crusade that revolted against aristocratic norms and the scientific
explanation of nature.
Poe writes of a black cat that “seduced him into murder” and a talking raven who painfully
reminds him of his lost love “Lenore, nevermore”, and of envious tortured angels and a hideous
beating heart. His literary masterpieces and the tenebrous images Bachelier paints are a perfect
marriage of art and literature that go hand-in-hand, making a mark on those who indulge it.
It is suffice to say that the book as a whole is an accomplished production with a mournful
and somber feel. Hauntingly romantic, 13 Plus 1 by Edgar Allan Poe is a wonderful way to spend
a chilly evening sitting by the glow of a warm fire submerged in the world of Edgar Allan Poe and
Anne Bachelier.
13 + 1 By Edgar Allan Poe is the fifth in a series of collaborations by publisher/designer Neil Zukerman
of New York City’s fabled CFM Gallery. Next on the horizon is The Wizard of OZ. — By HEATHER DALE

Back Home