Published in October 1919, ” La fin du monde filmée par l’ange N.-D.” combines the text by Blaise Cendrars, conceived as a film script, and a set of twenty-two illustrations by Fernand Léger, many of them painted with stencils. This great work humorously traces the apocalypse of the modern world in fifty-five small chapters.

In a veritable exercise in typographic experimentation, Léger integrates letters, numbers, advertising slogans and quotations in often fragmented compositions reminiscent of the turmoil of the big city. The plastic force of the print associated with the solid colours reveals the painter’s fascination with the aesthetics of advertising.

Léger plays with surprising framing effects and close-ups, forming an illustrative proposal that portrays the principles of crossfade.

This project has been a challenge because the only existing original is archived at the Bibliothèque National de France (BNF) in Paris. Gallimard‘s technical team travelled to photograph the original due to the impossibility of removing it from the BNF archives. Here, the photomechanical work: retouching and colour calibration by Les Caméléons Artisans de la Image was essential to achieve a satisfactory result in relation to the original.

The use of our multichrome printing technology and the customised ICC profiles supplied by Agpograf Impressors, creating the best conditions for multicolour reproduction and printing in the workshop in Poblenou, is worth mentioning. A team effort superbly coordinated by Gallimard, Les Caméléons and Agpograf.