Frankenstein
Fondation
Martin Bodmer
Creation of Darkness
13th May – 9th October 2016
Press kit
Contact for images, interviews, and further information:
Fondation Martin Bodmer
Route Martin Bodmer, 19
CH-1223 Cologny (Genève)
Katharina von Flotow
+41 (0)77 499 83 91
[email protected]
Individual guided tours for journalists available by appointment.
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Fondation
Martin Bodmer
13th May – 9th October 2016
Frankenstein
Creation of Darkness
Exhibition
In the summer of 1816, at Cologny, Mary Shelley began the writing of Frankenstein, a mythic
expression of modern anxiety over the increasing power of science and technology. On the
200th anniversary of this masterpiece of romantic literature, the Martin Bodmer Foundation
is devoting a major exhibition to the origins of this work, to the new perspectives it opens up,
and to the questions it raises.
Mary Shelley’s novel was an immediate best seller, and it still commands attention. Its themes
lie at the heart of the literary and philosophical preoccupations of the last two hundred years:
unlimited scientific progress, the marriage of technology and biology, the disillusionment
of modernity, the solitude of the individual, the unconscious and the mysteries of human
psychology.
The Frankenstein exhibition restores the origins of Mary Shelley’s novel in its handwritten
and printed forms, with paintings and engravings that reflect the world of 1816. It makes
accessible to the public a wide range of literary and scientific works at the source of the ideas
explored in novel.
With approximately 100 objects on display—including the manuscript of the novel, the copy
of the first edition annotated by the author, her diary, her famous portrait, and numerous
other manuscripts and first editions—this is the most ambitious exhibition ever devoted to
Frankenstein.
In addition to the exhibition Frankenstein, creation of Darkness, various events are on offer to
the general public, to articulate the modern significance of Mary Shelley’s novel: entertainment for young people, the Fantasy Literature Evening, private tours of the Villa Diodati gardens and a trip on the lake, as well as conferences, round tables and meetings throughout the
duration of the exhibition.
Curators
Prof. David Spurr (University of Geneva), Nicolas Ducimetière (Fondation Martin Bodmer)
Exhibition design
Mme Stasa Bibic
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Fondation
Martin Bodmer
13th May – 9th October 2016
Frankenstein
Creation of Darkness
David Spurr
David Spurr is Emeritus Professor of English Literature at the University of Geneva. His
research primarily concerns the relations between literature and the cultural conditions of
modernity. In addition to approximately one hundred articles in scholarly journals, he is the
author of Architecture and Modern Literature (2012), Joyce and the Scene of Modernity (2002),
The Rhetoric of Empire (1993), and Conficts and Consciousness : T.S. Eliot’s Poetry and Criticism
(1984). David Spurr is the former president of the Swiss Association of University Teachers
of English, and currently serves on the governing boards of the International James Joyce
Foundation, the Zurich James Joyce Foundation, and the Société de Lecture de Genève. He
has been a visiting professor at the universities of Basel, Zurich, Innsbruck, and Iceland.
Nicolas Ducimetière
Nicolas Ducimetière has been vice-director of the Martin Bodmer Foundation since 2012.
Formerly curator at the Barbier-Mueller Museum (2004-2013), he has presented the
Bodmer’s rich holdings in Renaissance poetry as curator of the exhibition Mignonne, allons
voir…, accompanied by a published work of the same title (Hazan, 2007). A specialist in
the history of the book, Mr. Ducimetière is the author or editor of books and articles on
French Renaissance poetry, including Poètes, princes & collectionneurs (2011). He has also
served on several occasions as scientific curator, notably for the exhibition “Alexandria the
Divine” (2014). Nicolas Ducimetière has been since 2006 a board member and secretary of
the Barbier-Mueller Foundation for the Study of Italian Renaissance Poetry (University of
Geneva), and a member of the Swiss Committee for UNESCO since 2016. In 2010 he was
named Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters of France.
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Fondation
Martin Bodmer
13th May – 9th October 2016
Frankenstein
Creation of Darkness
Passages from Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus
“It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With
an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that
I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one
in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt
out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.” (Narration of Victor
Frankenstein, Ch. 5)
“All men hate the wretched; how, then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living
things!” (The creature to Frankenstein on the Sea of Ice, ch. 10)
“When I looked around, I saw and heard of none like me. Was I then a monster, a blot upon
the earth, from which all men fled, and whom all men disowned?” (The creature, on what he
has learned at the De Lacey cottage, ch. 13)
“I gazed on my victim, and my heart swelled with exultation and hellish triumph: clapping
my hands, I exclaimed, `I, too, can create desolation; my enemy is not invulnerable; this death
will carry despair to him, and a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him.’” (The
creature, having just killed the little brother of Frankenstein, ch. 16).
“Shall each man find a wife for his bosom, and each beast have his mate, and I be alone?
I had feelings of affection, and they were requited by detestation and scorn.” (The creature, on
learning that Frankenstein will not create a female companion for him, ch. 20)
“Man,” I cried, “how ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom! Cease; you know not what it
is you say.” (Frankenstein after the murder of his bride, Elizabeth, ch. 23).
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Fondation
Martin Bodmer
13th May – 9th October 2016
Frankenstein
Creation of Darkness
Illustrations
These illustrations can be downloaded in high definition at the following address:
www.fondationbodmer.ch/FRAN.zip
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Fondation
Martin Bodmer
13th May – 9th October 2016
Frankenstein
Creation of Darkness
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Fondation
Martin Bodmer
13th May – 9th October 2016
Frankenstein
Creation of Darkness
Illustrations
1.
Jean Dubois
Cologny, view of Geneva from the Villa Diodati, second quarter
19th century
Coloured lithograph on cardboard, 19.2 x 28.8 cm
Centre d’iconographie genevoise, Bibliothèque de Genève
The Villa Diodati, Byon’s summer residence in 1816, was where
the young English men and women gathered who produced
several works that would transform literary history, including the third canto of Byron’s Child Harold’s Pilgrimage, Percy
Shelley’s “Mont Blanc,” John Polidori’s The Vampyre, and Mary
Shelley’s Frankenstein.
4.
Mary Shelley
Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus, Londres, Lackington,
Hughes, Harding, Mavor, and Jones, 1818, 3 volumes. First
edition, author’s copy, with autograph corrections, annotations
and additions.
Pierpont Morgan Library, New York
This copy of the first edition, known as the “Thomas copy,” is
the only one containing annotations in the author’s hand which
has been preserved. Mary Shelley presented it to a Mrs Thomas
of Genoa shortly after the death of Percy Shelley in 1822. The
annotations consist of changes which Mary Shelley envisaged,
some of which were made in later editions.
2.
Richard Rothwell
Portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, 1840
Oil on canvas, 73,7 x 61 cm
National Portrait Gallery, London
Mary Shelley sat for Rothwell for the first time in 1831, and
this portrait was shown at the Royal Academy in 1840. The age
of the subject is thus between 34 and 43 years. She is no longer
the adventurous girl who, at 16, in defiance of her father, ran
away with a young poet to tour the European continent. This
portrait rather shows a mature and poised woman conscious of
her literary reputation.
5.
Platel (drawing) et Cheyère (lithographer)
Mr Cooke in the role of the monster (Théâtre de la Porte
St-Martin, 3rd act), Paris: Genty, 1826.
Chromolithograph
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris
Le Monstre et le magicien, by Antony Béraud and Jean-Toussaint
Merle, was among the first theatrical adaptations of the novel
by Mary Shelley. It was produced in Paris in 1826. The role of
the monster is played by the London actor T.P. Cooke, who had
earlier played the same role in Presumption, an English version.
This illustration of the script shows the moment where, in the
novel, the creature kills William, the little brother of Victor
Frankenstein.
3.
Mary Shelley
First autograph manuscript version of Frankenstein,
or, the Modern Prometheus, 1816
Draft Notebook A, c.56. f. 17v,
Abinger Collection, Bodleian Library, Oxford
The idea for this novel originated on a rainy night in June,
1816, when Lord Byron challenged his guests to a contest: “We
will each write a ghost story.” Mary worked on hers from June
1816 to May 1817, at Cologny and then in England. In her
diary, which follows the progress of her manuscript, we read
that she is correcting it in April 1817. On the 14th of May
1817, she writes, “Finis.”
6.
Amelia Curran
Portrait of Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1819
Oil on canvas, 59,7 x 47,6 cm
National Portrait Gallery, London
The Irish artist Amelia Curran painted this portrait in Rome,
where the Shelleys were living in 1819; the poet was 27 years
old. Judging it to be inferior work, the artist kept the portrait
in her possession until Mary Shelley asked for it after the death
of Percy in 1822. Curran gave it to her, adding, “I was about
to burn it before leaving Italy. Fortunately I saved it before the
flames reached it.”
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Fondation
Martin Bodmer
13th May – 9th October 2016
Frankenstein
Creation of Darkness
7.
Richard Westall
Portrait of George Gordon, Lord Byron, 1813
Oil on canvas, 91,4 x 71,1 cm
National Portrait Gallery, London
This portrait was done when Byron was 25 years old. He was
already becoming known in the House of Lords, and had
made a name for himself as a poet with the publication of the
two first cantos of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. This is the most
famous portrait of Byron; it shows a pensive and melancholy
figure comparable to the hero of the Pilgrimage, of which Byron
finished the third canto in Cologny in 1816.
10.
Theodor von Holst
Frontispiece of Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, London: Colburn
and Bentley, 1831.
Bodleian Library, Oxford
The 1831 edition is the first to illustrate, in the form of a
frontispiece, Frankenstein’s creature. The caption of the image
quotes the novel at the moment when Frankenstein has just
infused the “spark of being” into his creation. On seeing it stir,
he is overcome by a feeling of horror and disgust. Unable to
withstand the sight, he rushes from the room that serves as his
laboratory.
8.
George Gordon, Lord Byron
Letter to John Cam Hobhouse, Evian, 23 June 1816, signed
autograph manuscript
Murray Collection, National Library of Scotland
In this letter to Hobhouse, his Cambridge friend, Byron
writes, “I have taken a very pretty villa in a vineyard — with the
Alps behind — and Mt Jura and the lake before — It is called
Diodati — from the name of the proprietor — who is a descendant of the critical and illustrissimi Diodati.” The letter is sent
from Evian, the first stop on a boating tour of Lake Geneva
which Byron took with Percy Shelley, in the course of which
the two poets visited the Château de Chillon and Clarens — the
setting of Rousseau’s Nouvelle Héloïse.
11.
Carl Hackert
Vue de la Valée de Chamouny pris près d’Argentière
Colored engraving, 34,8 x 46,5 cm
Centre d’iconographie genevoise, Bibliothèque de Genève
In July 1816 Percy Shelley, Mary and her half-sister Claire
Clairmont made an excursion to Chamonix. The story of
the journey is told in a letter from Percy Shelley to his friend
Thomas Peacock, published in the History of a Six Weeks’ Tour
(1817) : “Mont Blanc was before us […] Pinnacles of snow
intolerably bright […] shone through the clouds at intervals on
high. I never knew — I never imagined what mountains were
before.”
12.
Courtyard of the Martin Bodmer Foundation
Photography: Naomi Wenger.
9.
F.G. Gainsford
Portrait of John William Polidori, c. 1816
Oil on canvas, 58,4 x 48 cm
National Portrait Gallery, London
Polidori, Byron’s personal physician, was present the evening
in June 1816 when the poet challenged his guests to a contest
of ghost stories. In Polidori’s story The Vampyre, published in
1819, the sulfurous character of Lord Ruthven, the vampire
of the title, strongly resembles Lord Byron. The Vampyre was a
commercial success, but this did not prevent Polidori, hounded
by gambling debts, to take his own life in 1821.
13.
Exhibition poster
Graphic design: Alain Julliard, Geneva
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Fondation
Martin Bodmer
13th May – 9th October 2016
Frankenstein
Creation of Darkness
Frankenstein, crée des ténèbres
nkenstein,
é des ténèbres
Description
During her stay at Cologny on the shores of Lake
Geneva in 1816, Mary Godwin (later Shelley)
invented — as part of a ghost story contest with Percy
Shelley, Lord Byron and John Polidori — an original
horror story based on a scientific experiment. In her
F
story, Victor Frankenstein gives life to a cadaver by
séjournant à Cologny dans la villa Diodati, sur les bords du lac Léman, Mary
means of a “spark of being.” The story reflects the
te – dans le cadre d’un concours d’écriture avec Percy Shelley, Lord Byron et
fantasies, fears and hopes created by the advances of
– une histoire d’horreur originale, à la fois rationnelle et surnaturelle. Apparaît
science and medicine in the early nineteenth century.
eur Victor Frankenstein, qui insuffle la vie à une créature issue d’un puzzle
The first edition of Frankenstein, or the Modern
ouvrant la porte aux fantasmes, aux craintes et aux espoirs des pouvoirs de la
Prometheus, was published in 1818.
de la science. La première édition de Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus
en 1818.
This catalogue of the exhibition ‘Frankenstein, Creation
fantastique moderne est-elle née à Cologny ? Ce catalogue de l’exposition
of Darkness’, at the Martin Bodmer Foundation near
n, créé des ténèbres », organisée à la Fondation Martin Bodmer à Genève,
Geneva, recreates the context in which Mary Shelley
porter une réponse à cette question, grâce à de nombreux documents
wrote a novel which has been a best seller since its
et éditions rares de livres « fantastiques ». On reviendra également sur le
original publication 200 years ago. On display are
réation de Frankenstein, il y a tout juste 200 ans, à une époque où de nombreux
a large number of manuscripts and rare editions of
anglais, artistes et intellectuels, se rendent en Suisse pour éprouver des
the works that define the literary and philosophical
pres au romantisme.
preoccupations of Frankenstein: the ethics of science,
climate change, the technologization of the human
RS
body, the unconscious, human otherness, the plight
ectif sous la direction
de Davidand
Spurr,
professeur de littérature moderne
of the homeless
dispossessed.
de Genève, et de Nicolas Ducimetière, vice-directeur de la Fondation
er.
Authors
The catalogue contains a collection of essays edited
by David Spurr, professor of English literature at the
University
of Geneva,
and Nicolas
Ducimetière,
viceébration des 200
ans de l’écriture
de Frankenstein
. De
nombreux événements
director
of the2018,
Martinbicentenaire
Bodmer Foundation.
és à cette occasion
jusqu’en
de la première édition du
Pleasedenote
ux manuscrits inédits
Mary Shelley sont reproduits dans le catalogue.
ure soignée, avec
dos
en
cuir, inspirée
ouvrages
reliés du
• For the simili
celebration
of thedes
200th
anniversary
ofxix
thee siècle.
writing of Frankenstein, many events are planned
from now until 2018, the bicentenary of the novel’s
n partenariat avec la Fondation Martin Bodmer.
first edition.
• Many original manuscripts by Mary Shelley and
others are reproduced in the catalogue.
• An elegant cover, with an imitation leather spine,
inspired by 19th century bound books.
Couverture provisoire
EXPOSITION
Fondation Martin Bodmer,
Exhibition
Genève
Fondation Martin Bodmer, Geneva
du 13 mai au 9 octobre 2016
from 13th May to 9th October 2016
Format
Format
230 x 280 mm
Binding
230 × 280 mm
Hardback, imitation leather round spine
Number of pages Reliure
288
Relié, dos rond simili cuir
Number of illustrations
Nombre de pages
170 colour
288
Price: €35
Publication date
Nombre d'illustrations
11th May 2016
170 en couleurs
Press office
Prix
National press:
Béatrice Foti: +41 (0) 1 4935
54€42 10
[email protected]
Date
de parution
assisted by
Françoise
Issaurat
[email protected]
11 mai 2016
+41 (0) 1 49 54 43 21
Regional / foreign press:
Pierre Service
Gestède assisted
by
de presse
Vanessa Nahon:
+41
(0) 1 49 54
Presse
nationale
: 43 89
[email protected]
Béatrice Foti – 01 49 54 42 10
Fairs
/ bookshops contacts:
[email protected]
Pierrrede
Gestède
and Marina
Toso
assistée
Françoise
Issaurat
[email protected]
[email protected]
+ 41 (0) 1 4901
54 49
43 51
54 43 21
Catalogue in partnership with Editions
Gallimard and the Martin Bodmer Foundation.
Presse régionale/étrangère :
Pierre Gestède assisté de
Vanessa Nahon – 01 49 54 43 89
[email protected]
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Relations salons / librairies
Pierrre Gestède et Marina Toso
Fondation
Martin Bodmer
13th May – 9th October 2016
Frankenstein
Creation of Darkness
Frankenstein today
Challenges facing society, at the interface between literature and science, referred to in Mary Shelley’s novel are the subject of a rich
shared programme with the Brocher Foundation, with its concern for the ethical, legal and social implications of the development
of medical research and biotechnologies.
Key events
Wednesday 11th of May, 6:30pm, Geneva University (Dufour Uni)
“Victor Frankenstein’s dilemma”. Opening night. Extracts to be read from Mary Shelley’s novel (by Jean-Pierre Balmer)
and discussion of the ethical implications of scientific progress (with Denis Duboule and Didier Sicard).
Tuesday 17th May, 7pm, Martin Bodmer Foundation, Cologny
“Fictional places, romantic heights”: from the New Heloise to Frankenstein: the birth of Swiss tourism from a writer’s perspective.
Conference by Prof. Jacques Berchtold, director of the Martin Bodmer Foundation, followed by drinks.
Saturday 21st May, from 6pm, Martin Bodmer Foundation, Cologny
Night of Museums: fantasy night with a guided tour in costumes, magic formulas and sorcery, tales and a hunt for supernatural
creatures by torchlight…
Saturday 11th June 2016, dialogue between Literature and Science, at the water’s edge (Bol d’Or day)
A morning coffee and croissant at the FMB, followed by brunch and a day of conferences and entertainment at the
Brocher Foundation on the theme “From Frankenstein to Dolly: from genetic manipulation to cloning” for the 20th anniversary
of the sheep-clone Dolly and the 200th anniversary of Frankenstein. Shuttles provided between Cologny and Hermance.
Thursday 16th June, 5pm – 11pm, Martin Bodmer Foundation, Cologny
“Happy Birthday, Frankenstein!” An evening to commemorate the origins of Mary Shelley’s novel, with guided tours in costume, a
picnic in the gardens, a conference, theatre and competitions.
Saturday 9th July, 6pm – 10pm, departure from Geneva
1816-2016 – a journey in time. A voyage on the lake with meal and lecture on the literary and scientific questions raised
by Frankenstein. Limited places available. Reservations required.
Wednesday 14th September, 7pm, Biotech Campus
“The brain: from neuroscience to neuropower”. A scientific debate, a presentation of the Human Brain Project,
with a aperitif at the end of the evening.
Thursday 13th October, 6.30pm, University of Geneva
“Science without conscience is but the ruin of the soul.” Cosing evening. Given the story of a scientific experiment turned into horror,
what principles might guide scientific research today? (Speakers to be confirmed)
The full programme will be available on www.frankenstein.ch
Media contact for information regarding events:
Isabelle Ferrari, Martin Bodmer Foundation
Tel. + 41 (0) 78 930 41 73
Partneship
The Martin Bodmer, Brocher, and Château de Chillon foundations together commemorate the literary activities of Percy Shelley,
Mary Godwin Shelley, and Lord Byron on the shores of Lake Geneva during the summer of 1816. Combined ticket for the
exhibitions Frankenstein, Créé des ténèbres (Bodmer) and 1816-2016 Byron is back! Lord Byron, le retour (Chillon).
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Fondation
Martin Bodmer
13th May – 9th October 2016
Frankenstein
Creation of Darkness
Martin Bodmer Foundation
Inscribed in the UNESCO “Memory of the World” register, in 2015, the Martin Bodmer
Foundation, directed by Prof. Jacques Berchtold, is a museum, cultural center, and research
institution devoted to the preservation and dissemination of knowledge. Considered one of
the finest private collections in the world, the Bodmer presents documents of intellectual
and artistic activity dating from the origins of writing to the present day. The Foundation
houses some 150,000 documents in approximately 80 languages, including thousands of
manuscripts from both the Eastern and Western traditions, and 270 books printed before
1500, among them a rare copy of the Gutenberg Bible. The aim of the Foundation is to reflect
“the adventure of the human mind” in the spirit of its founder, Martin Bodmer (1899-1971),
the collector whose ambition was to create a “library of world literature.” The Foundation
regularly opens its doors to researchers who wish to consult its documents, many of which are
unique in the world. Since 2003 the Foundation has also been open to the public, with both
permanent and temporary exhibitions housed in a museum designed by the Swiss architect
Mario Botta.
United Nations
Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization
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Bibliotheca Bodmeriana (1916-1971)
Inscribed on the Register in 2015
Memory of the World
Fondation
Martin Bodmer
13th May – 9th October 2016
Frankenstein
Creation of Darkness
Practical Information
Directions
Opening Hours
Bus A: Cologny-Temple stop
Bus 33: Croisée de Cologny stop
Genève-Plage (10 min by foot)
Car and bicycle: parking available
The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday
from 2:00pm to 6:00pm
Closed Mondays and public holidays
Cultural evenings: free of charge every first
Wednesday of the month from 6:00pm to
9:00pm, with guided tours at 7:00pm
The museum is accessible to persons
of reduced mobility.
Details of guided tours:
www.fondationbodmer.ch
Informations
Admission Fees
Fondation Martin Bodmer
Route Martin-Bodmer 19
1223 Cologny (Geneva), Switzerland
Entry is 15 CHF (10 CHF reduced rate)
Group guided tours available by appointment
Tel. + 41 (0) 22 707 44 36 during museum
opening hours
[email protected]
Tel. + 41 (0) 22 707 44 33
www.fondationbodmer.ch
Weekdays: 150 CHF + 10 CHF per person
Weekend: 180 CHF + 10 CHF per person
With the support of
Fondation UBS pour la culture | Henri Harsch HH SA
Services industriels de Genève | Commune de Cologny
Et l’aimable collaboration de Jette & Alan Parker
Commune de Cologny
Partenaires
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