JEAN FAUTRIER (1898-1964), ROBERT GANZO. LESPUGUE. EX SIGNED - Lot 47

JEAN FAUTRIER (1898-1964), ROBERT GANZO. LESPUGUE. EX SIGNED BY THE ARTIST. PERSONAL COPY BY MOURLOT JEAN FAUTRIER (1898-1964), ROBERT GANZO. LESPUGUE. EX SIGNED BY THE ARTIST Lespugue, Paris, 1942, in-4 oblong in sheets, including several color lithographs by Jean Fautrier. Edition of 123 copies, this one on China paper numbered 6/7 ? in ink, signed by Fautrier on the justification page. Dedication by Fautrier to Fernand Mourlot (several pages are foxed, one with a tear at the bottom and one with annotations (circles) in graphite pencil. High-quality copy retaining its original cover covered with embossed paper imitating spider webs. Original wrapper slightly creased. First book illustrated by Fautrier (1898-1964), preceded by a project that never saw the light of day. In the 1930s, Malraux, working for Gallimard, asked Fautrier to illustrate a book of his choice. Fautrier chose Rimbaud's Illuminations, then gave it up to devote himself to Dante's Inferno. The work was never published, and only the lithographs were exhibited at the NRF gallery. 1940 marked the painter's return to Paris. He made friends with Paulhan, Char, Ganzo, Ponge and Éluard, whose works he illustrated. In this first book, Ganzo (1898-1995) and Fautrier establish a dialogue on the theme of women, inspired by the "Vénus de Lespugue" or "Dame de Lespugue", a female statuette in mammoth ivory, discovered in Haute-Garonne and now preserved at the Musée de l'Homme. To accompany these poems, the painter drew 11 color lithographs, most of them depicting reclining nudes. He entrusted the printing to Mourlot. Provenance: Mourlot family