[The last paper I have from graduate school. The class was 20th Century Fine Printing.]
Expressive freedom has long been a hallmark of the private press and is often one of the driving forces behind the creation of a new press. The Janus Press pushes this ideal to its limits with collaborative efforts that create works of art which are genuinely different from the output of a traditional private press. Established in 1955 by Claire Van Vliet, The Janus Press has been as much a medium for her personal artistic endeavors as a creative sponsor for new and notable literary works.
Born in Ottawa Canada, Claire Van Vliet spent her early years in Canada as well as England. At 15 she left Canada and moved to California to attend San Diego State University. She graduated at 18 and went on to pursue a graduate degree. Concentrating on printmaking and sculpture, she received her MFA at 20.
While still in graduate school, Van Vliet printed her first book. This was in 1955 and it marks the birth of the Janus Press. Printed on a small press at San Diego State, this book is a first edition of the complete poem An Oxford Odyssey by John Theobald. It contains 3 wood engravings by Van Vliet and marks the beginning of her career as a bookmaker as well as an illustrator.
Later the same year she traveled to Germany. During the three years she was there she worked part of the time as an apprentice compositor. After her return to the US she spent 1958 and 1959 as an apprentice at the Pickering Press in Maple Shade, New Jersey. It was during this time that she honed her printing and typographic skills.
From 1960 to 1965 Van Vliet worked and printed at the Philadelphia College of Art as well as printing one book at the University of Wisconsin. It was here at the University of Wisconsin that she established a book printing program.[1] In 1966, The Janus Press and Van Vliet moved to West Burke, Vermont where she has worked ever since.
Over the past 38 years, The Janus Press and Claire Van Vliet have produced 91 books. Van Vliet has personally printed or overseen the printing of these in addition to illustrating several more books for other press’s. Van Vliet has experimented with the construction of her books and bindings and has become a master paper maker.
The books of The Janus Press are printed on a Vandercook proofing press. Illustrations are printed from original blocks and stones and are prepared by the artists themselves or in collaboration with Van Vliet. The press also has a Meeker-McFee etching press. The main fonts for many years were Times New Roman, Optima, Franklin Gothic and Monotype Spectrum. In the last ten years she has upgraded her Vandercook, buying a newer model from John Anderson (whom she apprenticed with at The Pickering Press).[2] Van Vliet has also expanded her type library to include Gudrun Zapf’s Diotima, Trump Medieval, Berthold Walbaum, Neuland and Wallau as well as a large number of foundry ornaments, also bought from John Anderson.
The books of the first twenty years can be separated into four categories. Non-illustrated works, works illustrated by Van Vliet, works illustrated by other artists and books conceived and printed by John McWilliams, a long-time collaborator of Van Vliet’s.
While all The Janus Press books show a careful and sensitive handling of typography and paper, it is within the last fifteen years that Van Vliet’s handling of paper has become extremely original. Her work shows her artistic background and raises the volumes to a level above that of a normal book.
Van Vliet began experimenting with paper in the seventies and began a collaboration with the Twinrocker Paper Mill in Brookston, Indiana in 1976. The works, produced with Kathryn and Howard Clark, she calls paperworks and are a product of infusing pigments directly into the pulp to create landscapes and other imagery. Her paperworks are often used as illustrative pieces bound with printed poetry. In the eighties she set up her own paper making facility, allowing her to be even more experimental.
Handmade, Japanese and fine commercial papers are characteristic of the Janus Press books. The presswork is exquisite and the bindings are generally intended to enhance and in some instances preview the works inside.
She credits an expanded workspace with allowing her to become more creative, not just in her illustrations, but in the structures and bindings of her books as well. “The work has gotten more and more air in it. The light is much better – there aren’t more windows, it’s just that the way they are placed makes a tremendous difference. And I have elbow room. I don’t have to clean everything up from one function in order to do something in another function: so it has allowed me to do work that is more interactive because I can have my creative chaos over more territory.”[3]
Van Vliet considers binding design an extension of illustration.[4] In the first Catalogue Raissoné of the Janus Press from 1955-1975, Ruth E. Fine says of the press, “The book as a balanced and unified statement, with all of its parts integral and serving to illuminate one another is the ideal after which the press seeks.”[5] Aptly chosen, the Janus symbol stands for this balance. It symbolizes the need to look forward and backward through the publication of both traditional and experimental works.
The construction of her books has become a more important element as the press has matured. In the 1980’s, binding and book structures became more complex. Van Vliet has scaled down the use of glue as a conservation measure and because she is more committed to producing truly unique handmade books.[6]
Several books, Aunt Sallie’s Lament: Margaret Kaufman, 1988, Designating Duet: Sandra McPherson, 1989 and Narcissus: W.R. Johnson, 1990, are examples of extremely complex multiple colored cut-paper constructed books. The construction of these books, coupled with the folding patterns imitate the layering of quilt patterns. The process of layering paper shapes and colors with text as the pages are turned is intended to enhance the relationship between the reader and the poetry. In addition to the complex layering of these books, they can accordion out to be seen as one piece of artwork.
The form of these books came out of a collaborative effort. Their scheme developed from a concertina binding Van Vliet had admired on a one-of-a-kind book of kimono dolls by Hedi Kyle; a conservator and designer committed to developing book structures without adhesives.[7] Exchange of ideas with Kyle as well as the authors created the final works.
Collaboration has long been a way of working with Van Vliet. She works closely with authors and other artists. She has a close relationship with the Stinehour Press and several of her recent publications have been collaborations with Michael Alpert of the Theodore press. Collaboration allows broader creative possibilities that happen only in group work and co-publishing helps to defray the costs of production as well as broadening the distribution of The Janus Press works.
Recognition of the Janus Press has come in the form of grants and comprehensive exhibitions, two of which were sponsored by the University of Vermont. She has received several NEA grants and in the summer of 1989 she received a fellowship, good until 1995, from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur foundation. The fellowship has allowed her the freedom to work on projects that are otherwise financially impossible as well as upgrade her bindery and paper studios.
After thirty-eight years, the Janus Press books have evolved from the more traditional, quiet standard of a private press to become complex constructions where the bindings, illustrations, paper and printing are all interrelated to the text. The press’s later books, including the quilt books, have a strong sense of 3 dimensions. A characteristic not usually found in traditional bookmaking.
The path of the Janus Press seems to have been an unplanned process. Van Vliet recounts the press’s development as one-thing-leads-to-another. “I never really have particularly known where I’m going; its just been necessary for me to know there is movement that feels right. But some ultimate goal is something I’m not really interested in, luckily, I think.”[8]
[1]Ruth E. Fine and William Matheson, Printer’s Choice: Selection of Books and Press Histories, (Austin, Tx : W. Thomas Taylor, 1983) , 28.
[2] Ruth E. Fine, The Janus Press, 1981-1990 Catalogue Raissoné , (Burlington: The University of Vermont Libraries, 1992) , 8.
[3] Ibid., 8.
[4] W. Thomas Taylor, “Claire Van Vliet’s Janus Press,” American Craft 47 (February/March 1987) : 59.
[5] Ruth Fine Lehrer, The Janus Press 1955-1975 Catalogue Raissoné , (Burlington: Museum at the university of Vermont, 1975), 5.
[6]Fine, The Janus Press, 5.
[7] Ibid. , 16.
[8] Ibid., 11.
Bibliography
- Cate, Philip Dennis. Claire Van Vliet: Printmaker and Printer. The Janus Press Exhibition at the Rutger University Art Gallery. Exhibition Keepsake. New Brunswick, New Jersey: The Rutgers University Art Gallery, 1978.
- Fine, Ruth E. Claire Van Vliet – Paperwork. The Janus Press in Newark West Burke, Vermont. Exhibition Keepsake. West Burke, Vermont: The Janus Press, 1978.
- _________. The Janus Press 1981-1990. Catalogue Raissonné. Burlington: The University of Vermont Libraries, 1992.
- Fine, Ruth E. and William Matheson. Printer’s Choice: Selection of Books and Press Histories. Austin: W. Thomas Taylor, 1983.
- Lehrer, Ruth Fine. The Janus Press 1955-1975. Catalogue Raissonné. Burlington: The University of Vermont, 1975.
- Taylor, W. Thomas. “Claire Van Vliet’s Janus Press,” American Craft 47 (February/March 1987) 52-59+.
- Turner, Decherd. “Recent Press Books: The Janus Press/The Theodore Press,” Fine Print 16, (Spring 1990) 10-15.
- Van Vliet, Claire. “King Lear in Boards,” Fine Print 15, no. 3 (July 1989) 114-115+.
- Varey, Simon. “Recent Press Books: Theodore Press,” Fine Print 13, no. 3 (July 1987) 130-133+.
Janus Press Books Studied
- A Fable of Bidpai. 1974 text from the Buch Der Weisheit of Lienhart Hoole (Ulm, 1483)
- translated by Nicholas Siegl. wood engraving by Helen Siegl.
- Burke, Clifford. A Landscape With Cows In It. 1987 – linoleum cut by Ruth E. Fine.
- Capetanakis, Demetrios. Poetry of Demetrios Capetanakis. 1966.
- Carruth, Hayden. Aura. 1977 – paperwork by Claire Van Vliet and Kathryn and Howard Clark.
- Finney, Charles. The Circus of Dr. Lao. 1982 – relief etchings by Claire Van Vliet.
- Franklin, Benjamin. The Old Mistresses’ Apologue. – wood engravings by Claire Van Vliet.
- Garcia Lorea, Federico. Romance de la Guardia Civil Espanola. 1974 – woodcuts by Jereome Kaplan
- Gunn, Thomas. The Missed Beat. 1976 – wood engraving by Simon Brett.
- Hayford, James. Four Women. 1981.
- Jennings, Elizabeth. Winter Wind. 1979 – wood engraving by Monica Poole.
- Johanknecht, Susan. Spring Clay. 1975. lithographs by Susan Johanknecht.
- Johnson, W.R. Anno Domini. 1970
- Kaufman, Margaret. Aunt Sallie’s Lament. 1988
- Le Carré, John. The Clandestine Muse.
- Leontief, Estelle. Whatever Happens 1975 – relief print by Claire Van Vliet.
- Lockwood, Margo. Bare Elegy. 1980
- McPherson, Sandra. Floriala. 1985 – illustrated by Claire Van Vliet.
- __________. Designating Duet. 1989.
- Schumann, Peter. THIS IS. Bread and Puppet Theatre. 1980 – illustrated by Peter Schumann.
