PICASSO, Pablo, & Michel Leiris.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Balzacs en base de Casse et Picasso sans Majuscule. Signed limited edition, number 96 of 100 copies signed by Picasso. Printed by Mourlot, Paris, this complete set of Picasso's 8 portraits of French novelist and playwright, Honoré de Balzac, is accompanied by text by French surealist writer Michel Leiris.In 1927, Picasso was commissioned by publisher Ambroise Vollard to do a series of illustrations for Balzac's novella Le Chef-d'œuvre inconnu (The Unknown Masterpiece). First published in 1831 in the newspaper L'Artiste under the title Maître Frenhofer (Master Frenhofer), the story tells of an obsessive painter who has toiled over his magnum opus for ten years. When he finally unveils the finished work, his fellow artists fail to be impressed and Frenhofer, driven mad by his masterpiece, burns the artwork and kills himself later that night. Frenhofer's plight clearly resonated with artists. Cezanne supposedly once lamented, "Frenhofer, c'est moi!" However, Picasso's obsession with the tale went one step further. He even claimed that he was being haunted by the ghost of Balzac and, in 1937, chose the address believed to have been the setting of the opening scene of Le Chef-d'œuvre inconnu to be his new studio. Ironically, it was there that Picasso produced what is widely regarded to be his own chef-d'œuvre, Guernica. These eight portraits of Balzac, created in 1952 and published five years later, are testimony to Picasso's enduring obsession and deep admiration for the writer.

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