Caricature auto-portrait

[c. late 1930s].
Graphite and blue and red crayon on Navarre paper (120 x 200 mm), framed.

Large original drawing signed in the lower left-hand corner.
It depicts a full-length figure, treated in a caricatured manner (disproportionate head with a severe expression), with arms hanging down by his sides.

We apologize for the imperfect translation generated by Deepl for the purposes of the show.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry always drew in the margins of his school notebooks, in the margins of his letters to children and later in his correspondence, on scattered sheets of paper. While we must be careful not to see in these graphic expressions the seeds or premises of the drawings of the Little Prince, we cannot help but think about it. Or rather, the illustrator makes us think about it. A style – hatched lines for the shadows and solids, arms very often alongside the body, a few lines to represent the silhouette and posture, and often close to caricature.

At least we can detect a new universe starting from the period of the “Feuillets de la comtesse de Vogüe” and according to the different periods of drawings listed in “Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Dessins” (Gallimard, 2006) by Delphine Delcroix. This caricature could at the same time fit into the chapter of the “Scène fantastique” where Delcroix brought together “theatrical characters who are curious, eccentric and mysterious […] with large eyes that give them an expressive, somewhat frightening look”, but why not also – and particularly for this drawing – an attempt at a self-portrait: the characteristic bow tie, the gaze and the receding hairline are distinctive attributes that Saint-Exupéry uses for himself: it is particularly similar to the self-portrait that appeared in the Bernard Loliée collection (sale Bibliothèque R. et B.L., Paris, Giquello, 2014, no. 196) : a look of great intensity, hair on either side of a balding forehead, arms dangling and a large bow tie. It is also similar to the drawing reproduced on p. 190 of the Gallimard catalog.

While there are countless drawings on unsigned loose sheets, color sketches signed by Saint-Exupéry are much rarer.
The quality of the one presented here places this drawing among the most spectacular pieces ever presented.

Librairie Forgeot, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Cat., 2023, no. 19 (reproduced, “signed caricature character”).