Jonny Hannah – Jean Vigo’s L’Atalante – Signed Screenprint on Wood 2/50 – Cakes & Ale Press – 2012

Description

A particularly unusual original screenprint on shaped wood by Jonny Hannah, entitled Jean Vigo’s L’Atalante, dating from 2012 and inspired by one of the defining films of early French cinema.

Rather than printing onto a conventional sheet of paper, Hannah has used a heart-shaped wooden panel, measuring approximately 34 × 29 cm, turning the work into an object as much as a print. The edition was restricted to only 50 examples, of which this is number 2/50.

The reverse is signed and dated 2012 by Jonny Hannah and carries both the numbered edition device and the red Cakes & Ale Press imprint, providing unusually clear evidence of authorship, date, edition and artist-publisher.

Across the front Hannah creates a predominantly blue, black and white composition centred on the head and shoulders of a smoking man, surrounded by waves, maritime forms and freely worked hand lettering. Across the upper half runs the title:

JEAN VIGO’S L’ATALANTE

The combination of the heart shape, marine imagery and human figure is particularly appropriate to a film in which love, separation and life aboard a working barge are inseparably intertwined.

Jean Vigo and L’Atalante

Directed by Jean Vigo (1905–1934), L’Atalante was released in 1934 and was the director’s only full-length feature film. Vigo died that same year at the age of just 29, leaving behind an extraordinarily small body of work that nevertheless became profoundly influential.

The film follows newly married Jean and Juliette, played by Jean Dasté and Dita Parlo, as they begin married life aboard the barge L’Atalante. Michel Simon gives one of the film’s most memorable performances as the eccentric Père Jules.

At once a working-life story, romance and poetic vision of the French waterways, L’Atalante subsequently came to be regarded as one of the landmarks of French cinema.

Hannah’s response avoids anything resembling a conventional film poster. Instead, he distils the film into a compact visual object built from water, personality, lettering and romantic symbolism.

Heart-Shaped Format

The shape of the work is fundamental to its effect.

Cut into a large heart, the wooden support turns the romantic theme into the physical form of the artwork itself. Yet Hannah avoids sentimentality: the roughly worked typography, dark lines, cigarette and dense patterning give the piece the character of a hand-painted sign, sailors’ keepsake or piece of folk ephemera.

The heart also reinforces the sense that this is not merely an illustration of L’Atalante, but an affectionate visual homage to the film.

Maritime Imagery

The watery setting of Vigo’s film is reflected throughout Hannah’s design.

The central figure is framed by stylised waves and aquatic forms, while the blue palette immediately evokes the river and barge environment of the story. Small graphic marks, loosely drawn figures and linear patterns are integrated into the surface rather than arranged as conventional narrative illustration.

This treatment is characteristic of Hannah’s approach to cultural subjects: rather than depicting a scene literally, he creates an accumulation of symbols, words and visual associations.

Screenprint on Wood

This work is an original screenprint applied directly to a shaped wooden support.

Printing onto wood gives the piece a markedly different physical quality from Hannah’s works on paper. The grain remains subtly perceptible beneath and around the printed surface, while the cut edge emphasises its status as a constructed object.

The irregularity of the printed marks, variations in coverage and deliberately handmade character are intrinsic to the work and form part of its visual appeal.

The reverse has been left predominantly natural, exposing the wood grain and construction.

Typography

Hannah’s hand lettering is one of the defining features of the image.

The words “Jean Vigo’s L’Atalante” follow the contours of the upper part of the heart rather than being mechanically typeset. Their irregular spacing and form merge with the figures and patterns around them.

Text therefore becomes part of the picture rather than simply identifying the subject — a recurring feature of Hannah’s printmaking and painted-object practice.

Edition

This example is:

2/50

from an edition of only 50.

The very early edition number is descriptive rather than a claim of greater artistic value, but the combination of small edition, unusual shaped wooden support, film subject and signed verso makes this an especially interesting Hannah object.

Artist

Jonny Hannah is a British illustrator, painter and printmaker whose practice combines hand lettering, folk and vernacular graphics, music, film, maritime culture and printed ephemera.

His work often responds to admired cultural figures and works through the objects and visual language surrounding them rather than straightforward portraiture.

Jean Vigo’s L’Atalante is a particularly successful example: cinema, maritime imagery, typography and romantic symbolism are brought together within an unconventional heart-shaped format.

Condition

Very good to excellent condition overall.

The blue, black and white printed surface remains strong and visually effective. Minor irregularities in ink coverage and surface texture are consistent with an original screenprint applied to wood and form part of the handmade character of the piece.

The reverse remains clean overall with the natural grain of the wooden support clearly visible.

The Jonny Hannah signature, 2012 date, edition number 2/50 and Cakes & Ale Press imprint remain clearly legible on the reverse.

Please study both photographs carefully as they form an integral part of the description.

Artist: Jonny Hannah
Title: Jean Vigo’s L’Atalante
Date: 2012
Medium: Original screenprint on shaped wood
Shape: Heart
Edition: 2/50
Edition size: 50
Signed: Yes, on the reverse
Dated: 2012
Size: 34 × 29 cm
Imprint: Cakes & Ale Press
Subject: Jean Vigo / L’Atalante / French cinema
Format: Original limited-edition artist’s object
Modern reproduction: No

Authenticity

This work has been handled, inspected and catalogued in-house at Hornseys before being offered for sale.

The reverse provides particularly good primary evidence: it is signed and dated 2012 by Jonny Hannah, numbered 2/50, and bears the Cakes & Ale Press imprint.

It is an original limited-edition Jonny Hannah screenprint on shaped wood, not a later reproduction.

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Explore our evolving collection of Jonny Hannah original paintings, signed and limited-edition prints, illustrated books and related artworks. His distinctive imagery, hand lettering and narrative style draw upon music, maritime culture, vintage advertising, folk art, popular entertainment and the visual character of British towns and seaside communities.

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Established in 1976 and based in Ripon, North Yorkshire, Hornseys is an independent gallery and bookseller specialising in original art, prints, design, collectable books and historic material. Every item is handled, inspected and catalogued in-house at our Ripon gallery.