.
Entry to the exhibition at the Rubin Museum of Art, New York City; inset below: image from the Rubin Museum website
From 1913 to 1920, the Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung recorded his waking visions in word and image in a large parchment volume that was bound in red leather. Part odyssey, part scripture, part Tarot, it revealed an Inferno of his deepest self and his eventual emergence as a whole and balanced person—an “individuated” being, is the term he used. .
Jung kept The Red Book largely private during his life, and after his death in 1961, his heirs kept it locked in a safe deposit box. Over time the heirs, prodded in large part by his disciples, were persuaded to produce a facsimile copy of the volume. It has just been published.
The Rubin Museum of Art in New York City offers an opportunity to see the actual volume. Given the difficult time that Jung student (and eventual editor) Sonu Shamdasani had in persuading the family to reproduce the volume, the museum's getting them to part with the original, even temporarily, must have been a coup.
The actual volume, which opens to about 18 x 30 inches, is set on a stand within a vitrine. The hallucinogenic illustrations are richly detailed in stained-glass hues on creamy parchment, painted in what look to be mineral pigments. The calligraphic text is in German and Latin. The whole thing is brilliantly obsessive. Once a week the museum staff removes the vitrine and turns the page, so that to get a sense of the volume you’d need to return regularly and often.
The Rubin Museum of Art in New York City offers an opportunity to see the actual volume. Given the difficult time that Jung student (and eventual editor) Sonu Shamdasani had in persuading the family to reproduce the volume, the museum's getting them to part with the original, even temporarily, must have been a coup.
The actual volume, which opens to about 18 x 30 inches, is set on a stand within a vitrine. The hallucinogenic illustrations are richly detailed in stained-glass hues on creamy parchment, painted in what look to be mineral pigments. The calligraphic text is in German and Latin. The whole thing is brilliantly obsessive. Once a week the museum staff removes the vitrine and turns the page, so that to get a sense of the volume you’d need to return regularly and often.
The Red Book sits on a stand inside a large vitrine. The light in the gallery is low, so the illuminations on the page electrify the eye
Fortunately, along with the original volume—and a nice selection of letters and original preparatory illustrations—the museum offers three facsimile copies for personal viewing. Bound within a red (though not leather) cover are high-res digital reproductions on creamy stock that are satisfyingly substantial to the eye and the hand. Shamdasani, the editor, has added an English translation at the back.
The Red Book is on view at The Rubin Museum of Art in Chelsea (a small gem of an institution that focuses on the art of the Himalayas) through January 25, 2010. Facsimile copies of The Red Book are available through booksellers now.
And by wonderful a coincidence, William Blake’s World: A New Heaven Is Begun, illustrations and books by the 18th-Century poet and illustrator, are on view at the Morgan Library through January 3.
At the Morgan Library: William Blake, image of Urizen from Europe: A Prophecy
