Monique Lallier: A Retrospective by Monique Lallier and others (review)

This catalogue of a retrospective exhibition at Guilford College Art Gallery, Greensboro, North Carolina, represents over forty years of design binding by Monique Lallier, a well-known, prolific designer and binder and influential teacher, appreciated for her flawless and innovative technique and her use of unusual materials. The catalogue, well produced and beautifully illustrated, designed by Jerry Kelly, with types designed by Hermann Zapf, shows fifty-eight of Lallier's bindings, and is preceded by four short introductions, one by the binder herself, and a good and informative essay by Karen Hanmer.

Monique Lallier was born in Montreal in 1941. She studied fashion design, but in 1972 switched to bookbinding and has never looked back. She worked at first in Montreal and then, after meeting and marrying the British conservator and binder Chris Clarkson in 1987, settled in North Carolina, where she taught students from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Teaching became an important aspect of her life. From 2005 to 2009 she was Director of the American Academy of Bookbinding and her influence on her American pupils was profound.

She has exhibited widely in the USA, Canada, and Europe and her work can be found in several museums and galleries, as well as in private collections all over the world. With a few exceptions her designs are unfussy, simple, and elegant. The interplay between colour, materials, and texture, and her meticulous attention to detail and precision, are a consequence of her early training in the French tradition, which she has further developed, experimenting with new techniques. The sculptural effect of some of her designs and her use of crumpled surfaces, often of crushed pewter, are reminiscent of techniques also employed by British designer binders. Her pop-up structures—an American influence?—feel to this reviewer somewhat contrived. On the other hand, her 'interactive' bindings with elements that can be re-arranged by the owner of the book, are fun, original, and invite touching the binding, as well as opening and reading the book. Many of her bindings complement the text and illustrations within.

A couple of pastiche bindings, both on nineteenth-century books, contrast oddly with the modern contemporary designs, mostly original, although i spotted a few British influences from designer binders such as ivor Robinson and Sally Lou Smith. But the sheer variety in design and technique make this collection stand out. There is nothing such as a 'typical Lallier binding', unlike the work of many British designer binders, which can be recognized across the length of a room. Hers are all different and in their variety a constant source of interest.