A Picture Book for Adults: John Derian’s Dreamlike World Fascinates

By Rebecca Sherman // Oct 6, 2016

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John Derian will sign copies of his new book in Dallas on Wednesday, October 19, at Neiman Marcus NorthPark Center and in Houston on Thursday, October 20 at Kuhl-Linscomb. (Photo by Julia Cumes)

The man behind the book (Photo by Steven Johnson)

"John Derian Picture Book" (Artisan, $75)

Derian's picture book is out this month.

John Derian inhabits a dreamlike world of intensely colored flowers and fruits, curious animal portraits, and ephemeral hand-drawn letters. Using the art of decoupage — cutting and gluing images under glass — Derian transfers these antediluvian images onto decorative plates, platters, paperweights, coasters, and bowls.

John Derian Picture Book, (Artisan, $75), which comes out this month, trains his lens on 300 favorite works from his collection of 18th- and 19th-century illustrations, chromolithographs, and etchings. Some images are blown up, receiving close inspection; others are left the way he found them.

Anna Wintour, who has covered his work in Vogue for years, wrote the book’s foreword. We bet we’ll see framed pages from this book on many walls this fall.

Meet Derian when he signs copies in Dallas on Wednesday, October 19, 6 to 8 pm, at Neiman Marcus NorthPark Center and in Houston on Thursday, October 20, 2 to 4:30 pm, at Kuhl-Linscomb, 2418 W. Alabama St.