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pencil drawing of a bird perched on a branch of a tree
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138 - Henri MICHAUX. [The Bird That Fades Away].
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Estimate €4,000 - €5,000
Sale commission
Description
Henri MICHAUX. [The Bird That Fades Away]. Undated [1942]. Original signed charcoal drawing (23 x 17.8 cm), framed. A superb original charcoal drawing used to illustrate the collection *Apparitions*. This is the first full-page illustration in the book (p. 8), accompanying the poem *L’Oiseau qui s’efface*. This one appears in the light of day, in the whitest of days. Bird. It flaps its wings, it takes flight. It flaps its wings, it fades away. I t flaps its wings, it reappears. It alights. And then it is no more. With a single flap, it has faded into the white space. Such is my familiar bird, the bird that comes to populate the sky above my little courtyard. Populate? One can see how… But I remain where I am, gazing at it, fascinated by its appearance, fascinated by its disappearance. The drawing is said to have been by Maurice Saillet. It was exhibited at the Martin Bodmer Foundation in 2015 (catalogue *Henri Michaux & Zao Wou-Ki in the Empire of Signs*, no. 35 and reproduced on p. 38).
See original version (French)
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About the sale Henri Michaux, the Sven Pitsey collection
Auction location
Auction time 10/29/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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