The Conservator’s Eye: A Close Look at “La Fin Du Monde Filmée Par L’ange N.-D.”

Why It Matters

It demonstrates how avant‑garde designers integrated art and text, providing valuable insight for collectors, historians, and conservators into historic book production and preservation.

Key Takeaways

• 1975 deluxe leather binding combines printed book and maquette.
• Brightly colored suede endpapers and guarded pages protect delicate edges.
• No borders; avant‑garde design merges text and illustration seamlessly.
• Included maquette shows color proofs, stencil marks, and printer notes.
• Process documentation reveals artist‑printer collaboration in early 20th‑century publishing.

Summary

The video examines a 1975 deluxe leather‑bound volume titled “La Fin du monde filmée par l’ange N.-D.” that uniquely houses both the finished printed book and the original maquette used to develop its graphics.

The binding, crafted by Leroux, features vivid suede endpapers, guarded pages with a white edge for easy turning, and a relief‑stamped title on the cover and back. Its pages lack traditional borders, allowing text and illustration to flow together in bright, saturated colors that “pop off the surface.”

Inside, the maquette reveals the production workflow: black‑and‑white prints overlaid with hand‑applied color, graphite stencil marks, and marginal notes specifying exact hues—e.g., “yellow” and “type of red.” A hand‑drawn map of Paris, annotated in blue ink, illustrates how design intent was communicated to the printer.

By preserving both the final book and its prototype, the volume offers collectors and scholars a rare glimpse into early 20th‑century avant‑garde publishing, highlighting the collaborative art‑printing process and informing modern conservation practices.

Original Description

Join Rachel Mustalish, Sherman Fairchild Conservator in Charge of Paper Conservation at The Met, for a close examination of a unique volume containing the 1919 printed book and original maquette for "La Fin du monde filmée par l’ange N.-D.," a collaboration between the novelist and poet Blaise Cendrars and the artist Fernand Léger. Housed in a leather binding created in 1975, Leger’s original illustrations and the final printed product offer a glimpse into the artist’s bold choices of composition and color as well as the creative process shared between writer and artist.

Featured Object:

Blaise Cendrars (author) and Fernand Léger (artist). “La Fin du monde filmée par l’Ange N.-D.,” 1919. Illustrated book with twenty-two pochoirs published by Éditions de la Sirène, Paris, and eleven compositions in gouache and pencil, in embossed leather binding, 13 3/8 × 11 1/8 × 1 5/8 in. (34 × 28.3 × 4.1 cm). Collection of the Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Library, Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art (PN1997 .F465 1919 LALRC Quarto)

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