Un monde respiratoire créé par le noir et le blanc Étude sur la pratique calligraphique de Paul Claudel dans Cent phrases pour éventails

By extracting the theme of “breathing” as a guideline, this article try to clarify here how the calligraphic practice of Paul Claudel created, in Cent phrases pour éventails, a lively world filled with breath. This breath, becoming perceptible by the black of strokes and the white of paper, is in fact closely related to the body of the poet, the materiality of the book and the dynamism of the words. In this essentially sensible experience of calligraphy, Claudel did not hesitate to take advantage of the new means of expression discovered in East Asia, to achieve his own “Art poétique”.