L´altalena
By: Enzo Mari
Publisher: Corraini, Italy, 2011 (First edition published by Enzo Mari in 1961)
Format: Leporello
A balancing act
Enzo Mari has had a great influence on design, picturebooks and culture, not only in Italy, but all over the world. He is known for his industrial design, but also for the groundbreaking series of wordless picture books published together with his wife Iela Mari (one of her books, Mangia che te mangio, is reviewed here). He also produced toys, and "L´altalena" is clearly inspired by his most famous one: A set of 16 animals ("16 animali") that can be balanced and fit together in all sorts of interesting ways.
As many other leporellos, L'altalena comes with a separate cover where the title is printed. Mari has generously printed the title in both Italian, English, French and German: "L´altalena, See-Saw, Balancoire, Die Wippe". The book starts with a picture of the simplest of see-saws: what looks like a plank on top of a cirular object. The animals, who are exact replicas of the wooden toy animals, do all kinds of fun and crazy moves: They fall, build and cooperate all through the book.
This book will appeal not only to librarians and lovers of picturebooks, but also to those interested in mathematic, physics and logic. It is a tale of weight and numbers, scales and balance. The pictures are stylized: black animals against the brown see-saw, and it almost looks as if the original toys have been used as stamps in order to make the images. The animals are masterfully shaped, showing off
Mari's talent for going straight to the core of what he wants to illustrate, the result being both beautiful and minimalistic.
L'altalena is a fun and different book, a very interesting publication of high artistic value. My only objection is that the publication does not have the same quality. The paper is too thin to make the pages stand by themselves, which is a lost opportunity: Think about how much fun it might be to pair the leporello with the set of animals and combine them for playing and exploring? This objecton aside, L'altalena is a wonderful book which can be used both to make up imaginative stories about animals, or to experience with balance or mathematics.
The set of 16 animals is still being produced by Danese Milano, in limited editions of 200 sets every year. They look gorgeous, which they should at the pricepoint of 400 EUR...
