Portrait-charge

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry drew constantly, in the margins of his schoolbooks, his childhood letters and, later, his correspondence, on loose sheets of paper. While one should be cautious about seeing in these graphic sketches the seeds of the drawings for The Little Prince, it is difficult not to think of them — or rather, the draftsman himself invites the comparison. His manner is distinctive: hatched lines for shading and mass, arms usually hanging at the sides, a few strokes to suggest silhouette and posture, often verging on caricature.

This new visual world can be traced from the period of the “Feuillets de la comtesse de Vogüe” onward, following the various phases of drawing identified by Delphine Delcroix in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Dessins (Gallimard, 2006). This caricature portrait could belong to the chapter on the “Scène fantastique”, where Delcroix gathers theatrical figures, at once curious, eccentric and mysterious, “with large eyes that give them an expressive, somewhat frightening gaze.” But it might equally well be read — particularly in this case — as an attempted self-portrait: the characteristic bow tie, the gaze and the receding hairline are all traits Saint-Exupéry used for himself. It is especially close to the self-portrait formerly in the Bernard Loliée collection (Bibliothèque R. et B.L. sale, Paris, Giquello, 2014, no. 196), with its intense gaze, hair receding from a balding crown, dangling arms and large bow tie. It may also be compared to the drawing reproduced on p. 190 of the Gallimard catalogue.

While unsigned drawings on loose sheets are numerous, signed colored sketches by Saint-Exupéry are considerably rarer.

The quality of the present drawing places it among the most striking examples ever offered.

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