Pablo Picasso
Chevaux de minuit (Midnight Horses), 1956
5503-BK
Text by Roch Grey (Baroness Helene d'Oettingen)
Cannes and Paris:Le Degre Quarante et Un
Folio, 3 partially numbered leaves folded to form 10 triptychs, interspersed with 28 partially numbered leaves. Loose as issued within Auvergne wrapppers, covered with vellum wrappers, which are printed with the drypoint on the front. Vellum envelope with lettering on the spine. Illustrated with 1 drypoint and 12 engravings with burin by Picasso. With the publisher's original two-part cardboard folder with printed label (often lacking). This copy is in very good condition. Also, with the invitation designed by Iliazd for a gallery exhibition in Paris celebrating this books's publication.
Editiion of 68 copies : no 33 of 52 copies on vieux Japon, numbered from 1-52; 16 copies on Chine satine, numbered I-XVI. Cramer mentions the existence of some copies on vieux Japon that were marked "epreuve d'artiste" (artist's proofs) all copies signed by Picasso and Iliazd. Printed by Imprimerie Union for the text and Atelier Lacouriere for the plates.
Chevaux de minuit is a long and frenzied epic poem written by Roch Grey and illustrated by Picasso. His engravings of horses in a choreography of postures are described by Chapon as a stunning equestrian ballet ("eblouissant ballet equestre") (Pompidou, p. 71)
Iliazd's organization of the text on a given page was ingeniously calculated. In Chevaux de minuit....the staccato layout of Roch Grey's epic poem gallops, trots, and leaps in the company of Picasso's engraved horses." (MoMA, p. 17)
Bloch 809-821. Centre Georges Pompidou, Iliazd, p 71-72, 114. Cramer-Goeppert 73. MoMA, Iliazd and the Illustrated Book 22, plate 19.
Price Upon Request