Kirti Chaudhuri - Later Literary and Artistic Works

Later Literary and Artistic Works

In 1994, Kirti Chaudhuri created and founded Gallery Schifanoia and its associated imprint house Schifanoia Firenze to exhibit, print, and publish his artistic and literary works along with the works of other artists and writers. The press has published thirty titles so far and further projects are being planned for future publication. The activities of Schifanoia Firenze as a private Press and a publishing house belong to the same genre and the tradition created by Ambroise Vollard at the beginning of the twentieth century, a tradition that was actively taken up by other art dealers and art publishers such as Daniel Henry Kahnweiler, Albert Skira, Tériade, and Fabiani. The foundation of Schifanoia Firenze however was accidental. The chance purchase of two rare books, the facsimile edition of the Calligraphic Models of Ludovico Degli Arrighi surnamed Vicento (1525) and Crito A Socratic Dialogue by Plato, hand printed by Hans Mardersteig in Montagnola in 1926, led Chaudhuri to the idea of founding a printing and publishing enterprise similar to Mardersteig’s Officina Bodoni, which was later transferred to Verona and joined to the letter-press printing house Stamperia Valdonega.

Schifanoia Firenze has tried to maintain the standards of bookwork set by the great masters of the past such as Gütenberg, Nicholas Jensen, Aldus, Claude Garamond, Bodoni, and modern designers such as Jan Tschischold, Hans Mardersteig, Bruce Rogers, and Frederick Warde. The search for fine printing paper led Chaudhuri to the high narrow valley of Pescia in Tuscany where fifteenth-century methods are still being followed in the paper mill of Cartiere Enrico Magnani, methods that are also followed in the Auvergne where Moulin Richard de Bas turns out superb examples of handmade paper in Val de Laga, Ambert. The exquisite Japanese Kozo bark paper and the Gampi vellum are used for special reserve copies, which are bound by famous designer binders in full Morocco leather. Some of these examples can be seen at the National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum in London as well as in the British Library. Chaudhuri’s graphic work, large prints and photographic images, have been exhibited in Florence, London, and Paris.

His latest work is an audio play, Four Nights in Tunis. He wrote and directed the production of the compact disk in June 2007 and it is part of an audio book. The audio play was recorded at the professional sound studio A1 Vox and mastered at Iguana Music Studio, London. The parts were played by the actress Beverley Beer and the actor Andy Rowe. Kirti Chaudhuri was the narrator.