Athena
[December 9, 1944]
1 leaf (210 x 310 mm) of 29 lines written in black ink.
Signed autograph manuscript.
The poem, in six stanzas, is preceded by an extract from a letter dated 24 November 1941: “267 morts d'inanition, samedi et dimanche, à Athènes et au Pirée. Chiffre officiel. Les gens tombent dans la rue. On les regarde et on s'en va…Hier, 2000 morts, chiffre d'un poste de police.”
The poem, in six stanzas, is preceded by an extract from a letter dated 24 November 1941: “267 morts d'inanition, samedi et dimanche, à Athènes et au Pirée. Chiffre officiel. Les gens tombent dans la rue. On les regarde et on s'en va…Hier, 2000 morts, chiffre d'un poste de police.”
This poem was published in the collection Grèce, ma rose de raison, which appeared in two editions:
An edition of 50 copies illustrated with woodcuts by Z. Srnitch [alias Zizi Makris] and published by the artist in 1949.
An edition of 115 copies published by Éditions Réclame, September 10, 1949.
It was also published as a broadside, with an illustration by Picasso on the recto, printed under the aegis of the Comité français d’aide à la Grèce in 1949.
A manuscript version exists in blue ink, without the quotation from the letter used as an epigraph, as found on this copy.
#28961
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