Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (2019)

by Lauren Emeritz

In honor of the Walt Whitman’s 200th birthday, Leaves of Grass Abstract Orange Edition by book artist Lauren Emeritz was published to celebrate. According to Emeritz, “the book explores ideas central to Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass including transcendentalism, or the inherent goodness of nature, and realism, depicting familiar things as they are. It captures both the complexity and simplicity of nature by juxtaposing dimensional paper grass texture and a quote about nature and wonder. The book is not a reprinting of all of Whitman’s words but an art object that encapsulates the feeling of Whitman” (Lauren Emeritz).

The book opens to reveal three parts, becoming a triptych. The focus is the center section which is a box with several rows of several shades of green paper cut to resemble blades of grass. The blades of grass stand in the box invoking the feeling of standing over grass and looking down on it. On the left, there is a portrait of Whitman with the quote “All seems beautiful to me.” On the right, there is a quote from Whitman’s “Song of Myself” with a large 200 printed in the bottom right corner to commemorate Whitman’s 200th birthday.