Book competition

This week’s book competition prize is Stone to Stains: The Drawings of Victor Hugo by Cynthia Burlingham and Allegra Pesenti. Click here for your chance to win.

Accompanying a major exhibition, this book brings together around 120 of the most significant examples of Victor Hugo’s works on paper. It features previously unpublished drawings and insightful texts that reveal Hugo’s extraordinary talents as a draftsman. Remarkably spontaneous and receptive to the myriad possibilities of medium and materials, Hugo produced experimental and enigmatic compositions, from haunting renditions of castles and ruins to ethereal and abstract forms and stains. This volume includes essays which place Hugo’s drawings within the context of artistic movements in 19th-century France, closely examine his cosmic landscapes and visions of the night, delve into Hugo’s processing of ideas and imagination, and analyze a central pair of opposing forces in his work—stones and stains. This lavishly illustrated book presents the full breadth of Hugo’s talent. Hugo’s drawings afford a greater insight into the creative brilliance that brought forth some of the most indelible stories of all time.

Answer the following question, by 10 p.m. on 18 January, to win a copy of Stone to Stains: The Drawings of Victor Hugo by Cynthia Burlingham and Allegra Pesenti (Hammer Museum/Del Monico Books/Prestel).

Which cathedral is the setting for one of Victor Hugo’s most famous novels?

For our last competition prize we offered Fuseli: Drama and Theatre (Prestel Publishing). The question was:

In which city in Switzerland was Henry Fuseli born?

Answer: Zurich