A Painting Inventory

Designed on the occasion of the homonymous exhibition organised by the gallery Placentia Arte, Verde Indagine—meaning ‘a green survey’—is a book illustrating a painting inventory of leaves, plants, grass, and trees made by Italian artist Thomas Berra.

The artist made a survey in all respects by searching, travelling and studying the theme of vegetation for more than one year, focusing on vagrant plants in particular.

Green

Designing the book was a real challenge because of its content—nearly 200 images that are all similar, all green, all portraying vegetation details, without a single line of text.

However, the difference between plants and leaves portrayed by the artist allowed to make a distinction by typology between the various images.

Therefore, the first thing that was done in order to organise the contents was the classification of images, so that it was possible to divide the books in chapters, which are deliberately not indicated by titles or opening pages, but perceived anyway while browsing through the pages.

The Layout Grid

The development of a modular grid system characterised by multiple textures allowed to produce richly articulated pages, providing rhythmic consistency to the layout, and also allowed to rationalise the entire design process.

Furthermore, the grid allowed to keep the original proportions of the paintings unchanged, thus respecting both the work of the artist and the needs of the readers, which are mostly art collectors and art dealers.

The Layout of Images

The architecture of the grid allowed to orchestrate images according to rhythmic relationships, thus enhancing images both individually and as part of an ensemble.

In such a way, the pages stand out for both their beauty, elegance and the variety of the layout.

All the images are classified by a number that is related to the captions positioned at the end of the book. This solution permitted to avoid using page numbers.

The Cover

The book cover enhances the quality of Berra’s work by blowing-up a detail of a painting that, through enlargement, finds a new expressive strength.

The book received numerous appreciations distinguishing itself for both the strength of images and the restrained elegance of the composition.

The collaboration with Berra was repeated in two other publications—an artist’s book edited by Fondazione Pastificio Cerere of Rome and the exhibition catalogue The Old Tailor of Toledo by UNA art gallery.

—Nicola-Matteo Munari