Le Verre d’eau
Paris, Ed. Galerie Louise Leiris, [Henry-David Kahnweiler], 1949.
1 vol. (230 x 240 mm). In wrappers.
First edition, illustrated with 40 lithographs in the text and 1 full-page plate.
One of 100 copies numbered on Arches paper (no. 56), signed by the author and the artist.
Signed presentation inscription: “à René Char, son ami de tout cœur, Francis Ponge, le 2 juillet 1958.”
One of 100 copies numbered on Arches paper (no. 56), signed by the author and the artist.
Signed presentation inscription: “à René Char, son ami de tout cœur, Francis Ponge, le 2 juillet 1958.”
The most important of the books published after the war by Henry Kahnweiler, one that “highlights the difficult but successful relationship that must be established between writer and painter for an illustrated book to exist” (François Chapon).
Francis Ponge and Eugène de Kermadec met in May 1946, on the occasion of an exhibition devoted to the latter at the Galerie Louise Leiris. This encounter laid the foundations of a great friendship that would last thirty years, of which Le Verre d’eau remains the major testimony to their artistic relationship.
A very fine copy, without defect, and of remarkable provenance.
François Chapon, Le Peintre et le livre, pp. 126–129 and p. 286.
#29040
Back