Les Chants des Morts by Pierre Reverdy

Picasso, Pablo; Donald Glaister (binder)

Published by Paris: Tà riade for Éditions Verve, 1948

Large quarto. 125 of Picasso's lithographs, designed specifically to accompany Reverdy's cycle of poems, are here printed in red. These illustrations evince a turn in Picasso's style generally apparent after WWII, when the harshness of his angular cubism began to eschew representation altogether, instead favoring the purity of form for form's sake. To the extent that we can surmise this development as a way of reckoning with the total devastation of the war, which had an irrevocable impact on the then diasporic avant-garde, Picasso's gestural paintings emotionally and materially convey the despair and anxiety embedded in Reverdy's war poems. The collaboration pushes the limits of aesthetic and poetic experience that so preoccupied the postwar artistic scene. This copy bound by Donald Glaister in a unique binding of gray morocco over boards, with scattered leather onlays of burgundy and black with tooling in gilt and red. Inlays of watercolors on paper at both the upper and lower panels echo Picasso's abstractions. Entirely fine, housed in custom box. One of 250 copies. Signed by Picasso and Reverdy. Seller Inventory # 593

Bibliographic Details

Title: Les Chants des Morts by Pierre Reverdy
Publisher: Paris: Tà riade for à ditions Verve
Publication Date: 1948
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Fine