Cueco, Henri 1929-

views updated

Cueco, Henri 1929-

PERSONAL:

Born 1929.

ADDRESSES:

Home—France.

CAREER:

Artist and writer.

WRITINGS:

Cueco, introduction by Antonio Del Guercio, Maison des arts et loisirs (Montbéliard, France), 1973, Cercle d'art (Paris, France), 1997.

L'arène de l'art, Editions Galileèe (Paris, France), 1988.

Verena Merz, VGS (St. Gallen, Switzerland), 1992.

Journal d'atelier, 1988-1991, ou, Le Journal d'une pomme de terre, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts (Paris, France), 1993.

Le Collectionneur de Collections, Editions du Seuil (Paris, France), 1995.

Cueco: Dessins, Cercle d'art (Paris, France), 1997.

Le Volcan: Récit, Balland (Paris, France), 1998.

Dialogue avec mon Jardinier, Seuil (Paris, France), 2000, translated by George Miller as Conversations with My Gardener, Granta Books (London, England), 2005.

La Petite Peinture: Carnet-journal du 25 Juillet 99 au 21 Janvier 2000, Cercle d'art (Paris, France), 2001.

Més Anges, Seuil (Paris, France), 2002.

Narcisse Navré, Seuil (Paris, France), 2003.

Henri Cueco, Entre Vénération et Blasphème, Museée des Beaux-arts de Pau (Pau, France), 2005.

Also writer for the 1995 television series, D'après Nature.

ADAPTATIONS:

Conversations with My Gardener was adapted for film in 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Henri Cueco is a French artist and writer who has published over a dozen books. In 2005, George Miller translated Cueco's Dialogue avec mon jardinier into English as Conversations with My Gardener. Conversations with My Gardener follows an elderly artist and his gardener as they discuss their lives, livelihoods, and the world around them. The gardener tells stories of his youth, family life, travels, and, of course, gardening. Although the artist continues his work through the stories, the bond of friendship grows between them. They later ponder questions that seem to have little relevance to their lives, such as whether or not Jesus would work on a railway or if a head of lettuce was as beautiful as a work of art. Tom Boncza-Tomaszewski, writing in the London Independent, thought the limited action "helps spur the reader on," but overall noted that "the conversations seem random" between the artist and the gardener. A contributor to Kirkus Reviews concluded that "largely small talk in a small book produces lighter reading than intended." Writing in the London Observer, Stephen Pritchard claimed that "the charm of this book lies in its characters' easy discourse on the minutiae of everyday life."