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Premium Camille Chabroux Maison de ventes aux enchères
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Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) Verlaine (Paul).
See original version (French)
2
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Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) Verlaine (Paul).
See original version (French)
Estimate €1,500 - €1,800
Voluntary lot
Description
Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) Verlaine (Paul). At the same time. Original lithographs by Pierre Bonnard. Paris, Imprimerie Nationale; Ambroise Vollard ed. 1900. One vol. in-4 paperback (partly unclipped) [250 x 305 mm] illustrated with in- and out-of-text colour lithographs by Bonnard and wood-engraved ornaments by T. Beltrand after Bonnard. Bouvet 73. Some light foxing or traces of oxidation on some leaves. One of 170 copies on Hollande vellum, numbered 156. Illustrated cover and slipcase. "Vollard's first foray into books was the edition of Paul Verlaine's collection of erotic poems, Parallèlement, published in 1889. Verlaine, who was 45 at the time, collected 42 erotic poems to celebrate his love affairs, which he lived in parallel with his religious life, "it's the hell of my Christian work″ he confided. Vollard commissioned the illustrations from Pierre Bonnard, who used lithographic pencil to draw one hundred and nine suggestive images printed in bloody pink, following the rhythm of Verlaine's verses without literally illustrating them. Text and image sometimes intermingle. No longer subject to the written word, these illustrations definitively challenged the primacy of type over image, to the extent that Vuillard described them as "marvel[s]″. The work caused a scandal not only because of its erotic nature, but also because it went against the principles defended by bibliophile societies, which only conceived of book illustrations as woodcuts printed in black. "This is the first illustration that has been published that is entirely suited to a book of verse″ wrote Alfred Jarry in La Revue Blanche shortly after the book's release "Pierre Bonnard is the painter of grace [...] With admirable lightness, he has molly tumbled on the candid arms of the pages these beings...″ (BnF Essentiels). "The first book published by Ambroise Vollard in 1900, Parallèlement is exemplary of his desire to thoroughly renew luxury publishing and the illustrated book. Initially a commercial failure that clashed with the conventions of the bibliophile world, Parallèlement was presented in the second half of the 1920s as the starting point for a new age of luxury books. In a perfect union of form and content, Pierre Bonnard's pink lithographs blended sensually with Paul Verlaine's often erotic text, echoing the arabesques of Garamont, a typeface then forgotten by bibliophiles. Indeed, when Vollard visited the Imprimerie Nationale, he fell under the spell of the old French typography. He chose the Garamont typeface for his first book, even before deciding on the text and illustrator. They were thought to have been created by Claude Garamont for François I. In reality, it was a variant engraved in the early 17th century by Jean Jeannon and acquired by the Imprimerie Royale in 1641. Arthur Christian, director of this institution, then had new fonts made from the original dies and new punches engraved to complete them". (Clara Roca, Petit Palais, online notice).
See original version (French)
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Ref. : C00687 - 141
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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