Jean Cocteau (French, 1889-1963) Le Mystère et Antigone. Saint Mandrier...
Jean Cocteau (French, 1889-1963)
Le Mystère et Antigone. Saint Mandrier Août 1932. [Esquisse]s de Bébé 29 ans le 20 août 1932
carnet d'esquisses à spirales, contenant 30 feuillets (dont 4 laissés vierges), une feuille détachée, plats de carton gris, de la marque "La Reliure spirale RS", petites taches sur les couvertures et pliures surtout aux coins, grand in-4 (32.5 x 23.8cm), Août 1932
autograph sketchbook, containing 30 leaves (of which 4 left blank), one leaf detached, spiral-bound grey notebook by the brand "La Reliure spirale RS", minor staining and creasing to covers, large 4to (32.5 x 23.8cm), August 1932
A group of 25 full-page sketches, including portraits (4), male figure studies (10), and theatre designs. The poet Jean Desbordes (1906-1944) and Cocteau were living together in the mid-1920s, and Cocteau wrote the preface to Desbordes' J'Adore. Cocteau exhibited his portraits of Desbordes, and published them under the title 25 dessins d'un dormeur (1929), showing him asleep in a sailor's suit.
In 1932, Cocteau travelled with Debordes to Saint-Mandrier where these drawings were executed. The artist adds his profile and star design to lower cover, a list of art supplies ("Album gros papier colorié, gouaches Lefranc blanche / tubes d'aquarelles Lefranc [suivent plusieurs couleurs] / Godet d'or / Pinceau d'aquarelle de martre"), and on six leaves some set designs - ostensibly for Antigone although it was premiered a decade before. They could also be for La Machine infernale, which he wrote in 1932.
Provenance
Christie's, Paris, 27 April 2015, lot 182.
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
Jean Cocteau (French, 1889-1963)
Le Mystère et Antigone. Saint Mandrier Août 1932. [Esquisse]s de Bébé 29 ans le 20 août 1932
carnet d'esquisses à spirales, contenant 30 feuillets (dont 4 laissés vierges), une feuille détachée, plats de carton gris, de la marque "La Reliure spirale RS", petites taches sur les couvertures et pliures surtout aux coins, grand in-4 (32.5 x 23.8cm), Août 1932
autograph sketchbook, containing 30 leaves (of which 4 left blank), one leaf detached, spiral-bound grey notebook by the brand "La Reliure spirale RS", minor staining and creasing to covers, large 4to (32.5 x 23.8cm), August 1932
A group of 25 full-page sketches, including portraits (4), male figure studies (10), and theatre designs. The poet Jean Desbordes (1906-1944) and Cocteau were living together in the mid-1920s, and Cocteau wrote the preface to Desbordes' J'Adore. Cocteau exhibited his portraits of Desbordes, and published them under the title 25 dessins d'un dormeur (1929), showing him asleep in a sailor's suit.
In 1932, Cocteau travelled with Debordes to Saint-Mandrier where these drawings were executed. The artist adds his profile and star design to lower cover, a list of art supplies ("Album gros papier colorié, gouaches Lefranc blanche / tubes d'aquarelles Lefranc [suivent plusieurs couleurs] / Godet d'or / Pinceau d'aquarelle de martre"), and on six leaves some set designs - ostensibly for Antigone although it was premiered a decade before. They could also be for La Machine infernale, which he wrote in 1932.
Provenance
Christie's, Paris, 27 April 2015, lot 182.
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
