The House of Death on The White Road book
The House of Death on The White Road

Poetry by William Stanley Braithwaite
Book design by Melissa Wagner-Lawler
Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Melissa Wagner-Lawler, 2017. Edition of 8.

A single-sheet foldbook, folded into 12 panels. 12 x 7.5" closed, 42 x 22" unfolded. Processes: CNC [Computer Numerical Control] Relief, monotype, and screen-print. Laid in a cloth-covered wraparound. Poems by William Stanley Braithwaite from "House of Falling Leaves" (1908). Signed and numbered by the artist.

Melissa Wagner-Lawler: "The House of Death on The White Road uses the text of two poems by William Stanley Braithwaite published in 1908 to examine the duality of the chaotic and the calm. "The main imagery of the book was produced using a digitally-designed relief block carved on a CNC router."

William Stanley Braithwaite (1878 -1962) was a poet, writer, literary critic, and anthologist. His father was of mixed racial heritage, originally from British Guiana; his mother was the daughter of a mulatto ex-slave. He self-published his first book "Lyrics of Life and Love" in 1904. His second book, "House of Falling Leaves," was published in 1908. Subsequently Braithwaite compiled anthologies of work published in periodicals, helping launch the careers of other American poets.

www.blackpast.org (accessed 3/8/2018): "In 1918, Braithwaite received the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Spingarn Medal for outstanding achievement by an African-American. He also received honorary degrees from Atlanta University and Talladega College in Alabama. Between the years of 1935 and 1945, Braithwaite taught creative literature at Atlanta University."

Lo, a house untenanted
Stands beside the road of Time;
They who lived there once, have fled
To some other house and clime …
                         (excerpt The House of Death)

A white road between sea and land,
Night and silence on either hand
Pointing to some unknown gate
A white forefinger of fate.
                (verse from The White Road)

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