Colour and Composition in the Work of Jean Follain

Abstract

Abstract This study calls into question the frequent identification of Jean Follain as a ‘miniaturiste’, demonstrating how this poet in fact utilizes elements of pictorial representation in a much more ambitious and nuanced manner than such a label would suggest. Identifying remarkably frequent appearances of colour throughout two of his best-known collections, Exister and Territoires, we discover that such details are not merely minor descriptive terms among others, but key factors in the distinct impression produced by the texts in question. As the analysis progresses from paler to more vivid hues, we will observe that, in addition to bringing into play traditional connotations (white/purity, red/violence), the poet deploys colour in decidedly painterly ways — actually organizing and dynamizing the visualized space of the text through very deliberate placement, orienting and drawing the reader in. Such techniques become particularly interesting when considering Follain’s application of multiple colours, whereby he would seem to be attempting to reproduce the most physical phenomena in colour perception, through the interaction of specific hues. However successful these ‘translations’ from visual art are, a primary objective is surely realized: the reader straining to see actively, as Follain did.