PROUST Marcel (1871-1922).

Original DRAWING with autograph caption; pen and black ink; 16.4 x 10.6 cm (framed under glass). Charming landscape drawing inspired by Verlaine, for Reynaldo Hahn. Proust has inscribed in the upper right corner this caption: "The pond reflects / Deep mirror". The drawing represents trees, at the edge of a pond; in the sky, a crescent moon. The caption quotes two lines from poem VI of La Bonne Chanson by Paul VERLAINE: "The white moon / Gleams in the woods / From each branch / A voice leaves under the twig... / O beloved. / The pond reflects, / Deep mirror, / The silhouette / Of the black willow / Where the wind cries... / [...] It is the exquisite hour." Proust translated plastically this poem, which Reynaldo HAHN set to music, under the title L'Heure exquise, in his song cycle Chansons grises (1893). In his drawing, Proust has literally taken up the elements of the poem, including the willow, and has embodied the "voices under the twig" in an owl and a squirrel. Reference: Philippe Sollers, L'oeil de Proust. Les dessins de Marcel Proust (p. 63). Exhibition: L'Un pour l'autre, les écrivains dessinent (Caen, IMEC, 2008-2009, n° 19). Provenance : Reynaldo HAHN ; collection Pierre et Franca BELFOND (Artcurial sale, 14 February 2012, n° 100).