SolInvictus Press Fine Press Books Livres de Peintre One-of-a-Kind Books

Our primary activity is the making of artist's books since 1991. Our books are made by hand and are published in limited editions. We also nurture the development of one-of-a-kind books. Sol Invictus Press pursues a little known aspect of Chinese art, the unique book of seal impressions (yinpu). Stefan Arteni is the first Western artist who has mastered the art of seal cutting, favored by the Chinese literati as a cultivated pursuit. Sol Invictus Press books have been acquired by art collectors, bibliophiles, and public collections around the world.

Myriam S. P. de Arteni is an artist, book designer, binder and paper conservator. Her works are in numerous private and public collections. Stefan Arteni is a longtime practitioner of Zen arts. He was awarded the Grand Prize for Calligraphy 1996 and 2005 by the Japan Foreign Affairs Minister. Arteni has been also awarded in 2005 the highest rank, SHIHAN (Master Teacher), by The Japan Calligraphy Art Association. His works are in private, public and corporate collections worldwide.

“As the leaves of a Sol Invictus book are turned and the characters/symbols/images succeed each other in space and time, each seemingly the work of an inspired moment which has flowed spontaneously from the artist's hand, the awareness grows that an important message is being spoken to the eye and inscribed in the mind.” (Isaac Gewirtz, Curator, Henry W. And Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library)

Poster for “Sign of The Logos”, Artist’s

Books and Related Materials, A Retrospective Exhibition of Sol Invictus Press (November 19, 1998 - April 16, 1999),

St. Mark's Library, The General Theological Seminary

(New York), curated by Isaac Gewirtz, then Director of Special Collections at

St. Mark’s Library.

Laudes Creaturarum 1992 Unbound, protected by a wrapper. Housed in a handmade drop-spine box covered in esparto grass paper. Custom made plexyglass reading stand. Poem by St Francis of Assisi. Fifteen original sumi ink drawings interspersed within text and on wrapper. Text handset in Goudy Old Italian and printed letterpress on handmade Papel Zepia. Handcarved initials and signature seals hand impressed with Chinese red seal paste. Original drawings, initials and signature seals by Stefan Arteni. Designed and printed by Myriam S.P. de Arteni. English translation by Barbara Carle. Sixteen folios 37.3 x 57.5 centimeters (15 x 23 inches). Edition of twenty-six. Colophon numbered and signed by the designer and artist Everything that remains to our world of the man knows to us as St. Francis of Assisi is addressed to our most intimate nature. His words illuminate such fundamental concerns as the nature of existence, life, death, the self, and what is beyond the self. As a focus for meditation, Laudes Creaturarum, known also as The Canticle of Brother Sun, conveys through archetypal symbols the ultimate visualization of the serenity and joy of the world. The imagery of the sumi drawings must be approached in terms of the endless juxtaposition, contrast and harmony of signs and symbols: an Egyptian hieroglyphic, the American Indian sign for abundance, an imperfect circle as the expression of the inexpressible. Things are not what they seem, nor are they otherwise.

“Laudes Creaturarum…is a stunning whole comprised of carefully considered details. Each folio is a paper handmade from fiber of a different plant that grows in Colombia…Page composition is based on the golden section. Printed on each is part of the well-known “Canticle of Brother Sun” by Saint Francis of Assisi…in its oldest known version. Each section of type, in black, is decorated with handcarved initials in red. Also red are the carved seals, their references and cross-references reflecting many cultures, from Egyptian to Chinese and Romanian. The dramatic drawings are more personal but as multicultural. Like oriental ‘pictures of the mind,’ in black ink on the natural paper, they refer to the words of Saint Francis as well, but through archetypal symbols…” (Jacqueline Brody, Editor, The Print Collector’s Newsletter, Vol. XXIV, No. 1, March-April 1993)

A Small Book Of Engraved Mountain Stone Seals 1993 Seal engravings by Stefan Arteni imprinted by hand through the application of vermillon seal paste. Bound in shuincho format. Housed in a handmade cloth covered box, designed by Myriam S.P. de Arteni. Accompanied by a blank stone seal to be engraved by the artist with the collector's name. 3 1/2 x 5 inches. One-of-a-kind book, signed by the artist. Seal, or chops as they are commonly called by Westerners, were favored by the Chinese literati as a cultivated pursuit. Ancient script styles were seen in a non-continuum in which the artist should achieve an inner response to the model, rather than imitate it. "A small book of engraved mountain stone seals", an album of seal impressions, contains the traditional complete collection of the artist's signature seals up to 1993.

Encountering Sorrow 1993 Gold edged shikishi boards,with seal engravings by Stefan Arteni, impressed by hand through the application of vermillon seal paste. Bound in orihon format between boards covered in silk brocade. Protected by a maruchitsu wrap-around case. Housed in a handmade box designed by Myriam S.P. de Arteni containing a blank seal to be engraved with the collector's name by Stefan Arteni. 7 x 9 1/2 inches. One-of-a-kind book, signed by the artist. Seal engraving, or seal cutting, and important aspect of the literati's tradition, is a combination of literature, calligraphy, engraving, and tactile experience. "Encountering Sorrow" is a variation of speech for the title of the masterpiece by Ch'u Yuan, immortalizing the quintessential spirit of the many personal and metaphysical implications of dissident loneliness, within the conceptual framework of a meditation on art, life and knowledge. The text, in the ancient form of seal script, has been engraved in a variety of compositional schemes. English translation from Chinese and Japanese by Stefan Arteni.

A Large Book Of Recently Engraved Stone Seals 1993 Seal engravings by Stefan Arteni impressed by hand though the application of vermillon seal paste. Bound in shugacho format between boards covered in silk brocade. Housed in a box designed and made by Myriam S. P. de Arteni containing a blank seal to be engraved by Stefan Arteni with the collector's name. 6 1/2 x10 inches. One-of-a-kind book, signed by the artist. Seal cutting or engraving is an aspect of Chinese art, little known in the West. The same word (yin) is used for both printing and seals or chops. "The Large Revealed In The Small" and "All Quite At Random," two intimate poems of respectively five and seven characters verses, have been compiled by Stefan Arteni mainly from inscriptions on classical Chinese paintings, as a deeply personal response paralleling the individualism of 17th century monk painters in an era of trouble and grief. The book, whose subtitle might be "Word as Image", unfolds in time and space revealing unexpected thoughts on art and life.

The Large Emerging from the Small 1994 Foreword by Myriam S. P. de Arteni. Suite of fifteen sumi ink drawings by Stefan Arteni on handmade Papel Zepia. Three letterpress pages handset in Goudy Old Italian and printed on Handmade Papel Zepia. Bound in orihon format. Housed in a handmade box. Designed and printed by Myriam S.P. de Arteni. 12 1/2 x 15 inches. One-of-a-kind book. Colophon signed by designer and artist. Brush work is not conceived of simply as a decorative device. It is meant to exemplify a view of being. The brush strokes follow subtle principles of positive and negative design. They are diagrams of the dynamic but harmonious balance of the universe. Expressing oneself through calligraphic brushwork, one borrows from the insight that understanding is wordless.

A Book Of Collected Seal Script Carvings 1994 Seals engraved by Stefan Arteni, impressed by hand through the application of vermillon seal paste, with cicada - wing rubbings of side inscriptions. Bound in shugacho format. Housed in a box designed and made by Myriam S. P. de Arteni. 7 1/4 x 10 3/4 inches. One-of-a-kind book. Signed by the artist. The East, with its deep-rooted effacement of the individual, accomplishes through allusion the resonance with classic texts, moving to another dimension of awareness and release, when all has been silenced. Symbols are personalized. The carved words explore the wavering between urbanity and self-immersion in the norm of quiet, the forgotten vow for a reclusive life in an age of dislocated identity. It is the music of a silence.

The Thinker as Poet 1994 Twelve poems by Martin Heidegger translated into English by A. Hofstadter. Original calligraphy and drawings in sumi ink on Japanese handmade paper by Stefan Arteni. Unbound, protected by a wrapper. Housed in a handmade box designed by Myriam S. P. de Arteni. Fifteen folios 16 x 22 inches. One-of-a-kind book. Colophon signed by designer and artist. Man has withdrawn so far from himself that he no longer sees himself at all. Knowledge has progressed to the point of cancelling itself out. Man's history appears as data at once incomplete and yet too abundant. The flight of the gods, the destruction of the earth, the standardization of man, are nothing less than signs of this darkening. To say: saga. Man possesses language in order to say who he is and to give testimony. All of man's creation testifies to his dwelling on the earth. The task of cultivating and caring (Colere, Cultura) finds its avatars in the artist, the poet and the thinker. They are the sayers who more daringly say.

Casual Writings By A Window 1995 Original calligraphy and seal engravings by Stefan Arteni. Seals impressed by hand through the application of red seal-paste. Bound in accordion format. Housed in a handmade box designed by Myriam S. P. de Arteni. 11 x 16 inches. One-of-a-kind book. Signed by the artist. The basis for this meditation on art and life is the way of the pilgrim drifting from place to place, searching for a way to apprehend truth directly. The text uses mainly five and seven characters for each line.

“Casual Writings by a Window is a poem which Arteni composed by combining inscriptions from ancient Chinese paintings and poems. These he either carved in stone and printed, or wrote with a bamboo stick. For the seals, Arteni has adopted an ancient style of Chinese writing invented at least as early as 600 B.C. and whose various forms had become standardized by 200 B.C. Now, it is used only for seals and is called ‘seal-script.’ Here, Arteni plays with the traditional seal-script forms, sometimes intentionally distorting them to the point of illegibility, thereby transforming them into designs of almost pure form. For the text, he has used a semi-cursive style of Chinese character. However, instead of employing a brush, the traditional means of forming these characters, he has used a bamboo stick. Arteni's calligraphic style incorporates elements from Japanese and Chinese traditions, as well as his own interpretations of them. The mingling of the two styles, he feels, is natural, since in earlier centuries, the characters of both languages were essentially identical, though a Chinese and a Japanese would pronounce them differently. “ (Isaac Gewirtz)

Ai Tai I's Carvings 1995 Seal engravings by Stefan Arteni impressed by hand through the application of vermillon seal-paste. Bound in accordion format. Housed in a handmade wrapper designed by Myriam S. P. de Arteni. 6 5/8 x 10 inches. One-of-a-kind book. Signed by the artist. This album of seal-impressions (yinpu) contains the complete collection of engraved stone seals carved by Arteni to date. "Ai Tai I" is Arteni's Chinese name.

Wandering a runaway son will never come into his own my treasure is the cloud on the peak the moon over the valley traveling east or west light and free on the one road I don’t know whether I’m on the way or at home

Wandering 1995 Poem by Muso Soseki translated into English by W. S. Merwin and Soiku Shigematsu. Sumi ink monotypes by Stefan Arteni. Two letterpress pages printed by Myriam S. P. de Arteni. Bound in accordion format. Housed in a handmade box designed by Myriam S. P. de Arteni. 9 1/2 x 10 3/4 inches. One-of-a-kind book. Signed by the artist. This album of sumi monotypes, based on variations on the characters for pilgrim (unsui: clouds and water), is inspired by Muso Soseki's poem about the wandering seeker. They are assemblages of pictures having an improvisation character, heightening the awareness of emptiness by compositional cohesiveness and varying textures.

Cantique de Saint Jean 1996 Poem by Stephane Mallarme. Original calligraphy and monotypes interspersed within text by Stefan Arteni. Paper hand made in China, Mexico, and the Philippines. Designed and bound by Myriam S. P. de Arteni. Box made by Myriam S. P. de Arteni. Edition of 2. 12 1/2 x 15 1/2 inch (31.7 x 39.2 cm.) Signed by designer and painter The echo of an inexpressible can be heard in CANTIQUE DE SAINT JEAN, the last part of Mallarme's Herodiade. He sings of the nearness of the power of the word. The word appears as the mysterious wonder. It rings out in silence In a dark and deprived time the poet utters the holy: a language that responds to and recalls the unspoken. Images are bidden to come to this place of meeting. Rhythm, that what forms the movement of dance and song and poem, fittingly reemerges in the essential schemata of Byzantine painting tradition.

Democratie 1996 Poem by Arthur Rimbaud. Sanguine etching ink calligraphy and monotypes by Stefan Arteni. Bound in a flutter format. Housed in a handmade box designed by Myriam S. P. de Arteni. 16 x 12 1/2 inch. One of a kind. Signed by the artist. A historical crisis produces an age of uniformity. It happens that the superficial framework of our civilization finds the mass-man possessed of no truth of his own. An intense and fast dream, this fragment from the "Illuminations" discloses images in a pure state.

Fool of a Cat 1997 Haiku by Issa, translated into English by Lewis Mackenzie. Original linoleum cuts by Stefan Arteni. Design, mounting and handmade drop-spine box by Myriam S. P. de Arteni. 7 1/2x 12x 1/2 inches (accordion book). 7 1/2x 54 1/2 inches (hanging scroll) Edition of 9. Contrary to common belief, each cat has its own personality, thrives for purrfection and has a strong sense or purrpaws. There were many important cats in history and culture: Purricles of Athens; Cato the Roman; Leopardo da Vinci, artist; Will Shakespurr, writer; etc.

Coda 1997 Poem by Daniel Simko. Sumi ink monotypes and calligraphy by Stefan Arteni. Bound in accordion format. Housed in a handmade box designed by Myriam S. P. de Arteni. 9 1/2 x 10 3/4 inches. One-of-a-kind book. Signed by the poet and by the artist. With few words, the poet achieves a quiet lucidity, a minimalist presentation that is paradoxically resonant with levels of interpretation. Zao Wou Ki said: "There is in the word 'nature' a notion of a cosmic world, a melange, a mixing of space and silence." In its elegant simplicity, the imagery functions on both the descriptive and the symbolic levels at once. The historical knowledge of mental and physical dislocation and thus the mutation of heritage through a strategic appropriation of the signs and techniques of Oriental calligraphy, enables the painter to freely improvise a movement born of meditation.

Coda August deep, a thin line of grief swarms around the wild cherry. The music coming on again.

River Bank 1997 Poem by Tu Fu, translated into English by Rewi Alley. Sumi ink monotypes and calligraphy by Stefan Arteni. Bound in accordion format. Housed in a handmade box designed by Myriam S. P. de Arteni. 9 1/2 x 10 3/4 inches.One-of-a-kind book. Signed by the artist. Tu Fu, the wandering scholar-artist, forced into hermit-like existence, turned to poetry as a form of psychic self-defense, in a movement from one time of pain into another. Through symbiosis of calligraphic abstraction and painting, Arteni's monotypes suggest ceaselessly reinvented, renewed spaces, perpetually vibrating. The dispersal or dark masses, blacks and greys, amplify the transparencies and make the whiteness of the paper resound more.

River Bank Here sits a man by The river bank, who thinks To return home; he is an Ordinary scholar, drifting Like a piece of cloud above; At night, I am lonely As the moon, but at sunset I am still of good heart; In these autumn winds My illness gets better; In past times, they were kind To old horses, not sending Them off on tiring journeys After they had served so long.

The Return of Ulysses 2007 This artist’s book has been digitally created by Stefan Arteni. It is signed with the artist’s seal. Radu Gyr’s poem has been translated into English by Stefan Arteni. Printed on Somerset enhanced velvet 225. [37] leaves. 8.5 x 11 “ (21.6 x 27.9 cm). Drop-spine box was made by Myriam S. P. de Arteni.

Scrieri 2008 Three short stories by Mihai Rogobete. Design and illustrations have been digitally created by Stefan Arteni.

Mioritic Poems 2013 Three poems by Lucian Blaga. This artist’s book was designed by Myriam S. P. de Arteni who also created the special box housing it. It was printed digitally by Ray Henders at RX RAYOGRAPHIX printing lab on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308 gms 100% cotton white. 33 x 25.5 cms Lucian Blaga’s poems were translated into English by Stefan Arteni. The images reproduce digital compositions created by Stefan Arteni. The edition consists of 12 copies. All are signed by both designer and artist.

Lucian Blaga (1895 – 1961) was a Romanian philosopher, poet, and playwright.

Rebeldia 2013 Poem by Rafael Posada Franco. Myriam Sánchez-Posada de Arteni conceived and designed this artist’s book as a dialogue between poet and painter. She constructed the binding of the book in Japanese style and created the special box housing it. The book was printed digitally by Ray Henders at RX RAYOGRAPHIX printing lab on Hahnemuhle William Turner 310 gms 100% cotton mould-made white. 25.5 x 37 cms Rafael Posada Franco’s poem was translated into English by Stefan Arteni. Covers and illustrations reproduce digital compositions created by Stefan Arteni. The edition consists of 12 copies signed by designer and painter Rafael Posada Franco (1921 -1959) was a Colombian poet.

ALBUMS

Collages I Undated Accordion folding format, matted. Cut-outs from journals pasted with methyl-cellulose. [7] leaves; 8 x 8.5". Edition size: 1. A suite of 6 of Stefan Arteni’s collages on board .

Collages II Undated Accordion folding format, matted. Cut-outs from journals pasted with methyl-cellulose. [6] leaves; 8.5 x 8". Edition size: 1. A suite of 7 of Stefan Arteni’s collages on board.

Apocalypse 1996 Portfolio format. Brush and sumi ink, gouache, and watercolor on Chinese handmade paper. [27] leaves; 19 x 15". Edition size: 1. “This is a portfolio of Stefan Arteni’s studies on Chinese handmade paper for the clay monotype Apocalypse suite. The studies and the suite are composed of images described in the Book of Revelation.” (Isaac Gewirtz)

Apocalypse 1996 Portfolio of 19 clay monotypes on synthetic paper, including 1 colophon leaf and 1 title leaf. [19] leaves; 21 x 17". Edition size: 2 copies. Copy: no. 1. “Arteni based the iconography of this work on the imagery in the Book of Revelation as depicted in the Kremlin Master's Apocalypse icon (ca. 1500) in the Dormition Cathedral in Moscow's Kremlin. The painting is the first known Orthodox Apocalypse, though some scholars believe that a slightly earlier example, no longer extant, may have existed. “ (Isaac Gewirtz)

Vices And Virtues 1992 Coptic binding format. Brush and sumi ink drawings by Stefan Arteni on Japanese handmade paper. [18] leaves; 21 x 16". Edition size: 1.

Ink Undated Accordion folding format. 16 brush and sumi ink monotypes by Stefan Arteni on Japanese handmade paper. [18] leaves; 21 x 16". Edition size: 10. “The album ends with a haiku by Stefan Arteni. Arteni has translated his haiku to read, Daybreak Bearing up under its solitude To make ink .” (Isaac Gewirtz)

No-thing-ness Undated Portfolio of 9 sumi ink monotypes by Stefan Arteni on Japanese handmade paper. [9] leaves; 29.5 x 21". Edition size: 1 “Arteni comments on this work: ‘Artists succeed in circumventing fate. Momentarily tasting transcendence, they are freed from human individuality. Artistic creation suspends Time. No, no-thing-ness, emptiness.’ “ (Isaac Gewirtz)

The Prayer of Jesus I 1992 Accordion folding format; 9 brush and sumi slate-blue ink, abstract monotypes, plus 1 colophon leaf and 1 title leaf by Stefan Arteni; Japanese handmade paper. [11] leaves; 21 x 16". Edition size: 1

The Prayer of Jesus II 1992 Accordion folding format; 9 collages and sumi ink paintings on Japanese handmade paper, plus 1 title leaf and 1 colophon leaf by Stefan Arteni. [11] leaves; 21 x 16". Edition size: 1 “Arteni has written in Greek with a brush directly on the collages, each of which is accompanied by one of his signature seals.” (Isaac Gewirtz) .

The Prayer Of Jesus IV 1992 Accordion folding format. 9 brush and sumi ink drawings on Japanese handmade paper, plus 1 title leaf and 1 colophon leaf by Stefan Arteni. [11] leaves; 21 x 16". Edition size: 1.

Works in Progress What speaks is, in its solitude, in its fragile vibration, in its nothingness, the word itself - not the meaning of the word, but its enigmatic and precarious being. Stephane Mallarme The glory of the book as a work of art lies in the future, once the electronic media and the computer have taken from it the baser burdens it must still bear. Literature is a kind of self-contained verbal ceremony (Mallarme). The festive state as a game is a rite - a rite de passage - to be participated in only by initiates, participating sacrificially: com-memoration (Coomaraswamy).

Wellspring of Golden Dust (Wang Wei and Pei Di) Tang Dynasty poet, painter, and musician Wang Wei produces through his poetic technique an artifact whose contemplation can itself be an ecstatic Zen experience. Sudden knowledge, however, leads to grief, measured by movement from one time of pain into another. Contextualization occurs through allusion to Buddhist, Taoist or poetic texts. Wang Wei transfers to his own spiritual experience the legendary trip of the Queen Mother of the West towards the jade Emperor. He explores the landscape of Taoist inner alchemy where the cultivation of stillness results in activeless activity. Word and symbolic image are objectified in Pei Di's response quatrain. Pictographs, poems, and etchings mix lights and darkness: a shared vision of a book which unfolds to reveal a rich textural world, probing of line, and interrogation of language.

Mythology / From the Fragments (Daniel Simko) We feel our real life to be a deformation - sometimes greater, sometimes less - of our possible life. We are shipwrecked in our own existence. Our times form our destiny. The present, in which the past is summarized, is that portion of fate which intervenes in life. We remember the past because we are awaiting the future. But today, because of historical ignorance, man feels himself to be only a crippled fragment: while history moves, the stillwaters are made swift. Making is in greek, poiesis. Cultivating and caring - colere, cultura - are a kind of building. To be a poet in a destitute time means to attend to the traces of history that are often inconspicuous, like the owl, the bird with ever-dazzled eyes, watches the darkness.

Mama Owl and Her Owlets, Spotty and Fuzzy “I am mama Owl; I come of a large family…with many traditions and tales. Since I was born, trees have been part of my life…” A work in progress. "Mama Owl and her Owlets" is our new book. The tale was written by Myriam S.P. de Arteni who also designed the book. The illustrations will be created by Stefan Arteni.

Light (a fragment from Milton's Paradise Lost, Book 3) HAIL, holy Light, offspring of Heaven first-born! Or of the Eternal coeternal beam May I express thee unblamed? since God is light, And never but in unapproached light Dwelt from eternity-dwelt then in thee…