235 - Pablo Picasso - Michel Leiris. *Balzacs en bas de casse et picassos sans majuscule*. Paris, Galerie Louise Leiris, 1957. Includes eight lithographs. The text double-pages are loose inside the original linen folder.

Pablo Picasso - Michel Leiris. *Balzacs en bas de casse et picassos sans majuscule*. Paris, Galerie Louise Leiris, 1957. Includes eight lithographs. The text double-pages are loose inside the original linen folder. Auction start time: approx. 3:06 p.m. (schedule subject to change) One of 100 copies on Vélin d’Arches (total edition of 112). - Colophon signed by the artist. - The lithographs were printed by Mourlot Frères, Paris. - Eight portraits of Balzac were created as early as 1952. André Sauret used four of the drawings for his edition of *Père Goriot*. Four years later, Michel Leiris decided to publish the complete series of drawings along with an essay, “as it were, as an ‘illustration’ to the lithographs” (Güse/Rau). The seven pen-and-ink drawings and one additional drawing in lithographic chalk, which had been left in the desk, were transferred to stone and printed by Mourlot Frères in February 1957. In his essay, Michel Leiris argues that Picasso’s “Balzacs” are neither the Balzac of literary history nor the Balzac of the novel—nor even the Balzac as we know him from his impressive body of work: Picasso’s “Balzacs” are living figures whom one might encounter on the street. These “Balzacs” become ordinary passersby, everyday things; they become “Balzacs in lowercase letters and Picassos without capital letters.” (after Herma Goeppert, in Goeppert/Cramer). Goeppert/Cramer 86. — Bloch 715–722 and livres 81. — Mourlot 217–224. - Güse/Rau 550, 552–557, and 561. - LC 2001 76. - Monod 7065 33.5 × 25.5 cm. [20] pages, 8 lithographs. - Folder cover stained. - Text and illustrations with foxing; the lithographs mostly along the margins. English description: “Michel Leiris argues that Picasso’s Balzacs are neither the Balzac of literary history [...] Picasso’s Balzacs are living characters that one might encounter on the street. These Balzacs are not capitalized—they can be written in lowercase letters. They become ordinary passersby, commonplace things; they become ‘balzacs’ (just as ‘picassos’ have), parts of the signified world, alongside ‘basins, statues, gods, flowerpots, and begonias.’“ (Goeppert/Cramer, p. 224). “Picasso often drew and painted those around him, especially the women in his life. He also created a cast of characters from his imagination, including bearded artists, nymphs, fauns, and satyrs. Only occasionally did he depict historical figures. It was at the request of the printer Fernand Mourlot that Picasso created these eleven transfer lithographic drawings in November 1952. It was not until four years later that Michel Leiris decided to publish them with an accompanying essay. In these eight portraits, which range from the austere to the complex, Picasso emphasized Balzac the man over Balzac the literary icon.” (Robert Flynn Johnson, in: LC) Cover partially stained. - The lithographs show foxing and are mostly stained only along the edges.