Picasso and the Human Comedy: A Suite of 180 Drawings by Picasso (Spanish 1881-1973)

Picasso and the Human Comedy: A Suite of 180 Drawings by Picasso. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1954. The American edition of this double issue of Verve, 29/30, with an essay by Michel Leiris, preface by Teriade, and appreciation by Rebecca West. Illustrated throughout with 8 of the 12 original color lithographs.

"Last winter, from mid-December to the end of January 1954 Picasso was working indefatigably on this series of drawings, which rank among the finest, boldest, most poignantly human of all he has produced in the course of his long and brilliant career... Almost one could fancy that in his lonely nights at Vallauris these denizens of a world invented by himself crowded into the artist's room, sat for him, confessed unblushingly their most shameful secrets... We have published the series of drawings in its entirety. They form an organic whole, born of a surging uprush of the creative spirit, and to have omitted any of its elements would have been a mutilation. Nevertheless, when we isolate anyone of these elements and fix our attention on a single page, we find the fragment almost as eye-filling as the ensemble. All the drawings are reproduced in the exact size of the originals and in the chronological order of their making." (Teriade).

Condition: Two of the color lithographs cut out of book (the 8th and the 11th). Missing original dust jacket, slight separation of book from the spine at top half, slight separations of the fragile paper cover along the spine and scuffed corners. Interior pages overall good, slight time toning, no tears.