23 - ARROYO and MALRAUX, André. Funeral Orations.

ARROYO and MALRAUX, André. Funeral Orations. A splendid copy of this illustrated edition, complete with the signed set of 10 lithographs and the original signed drawing reserved for the first edition. It is housed in a spectacular lined binding by the Alix firm, designed as a tribute to Malraux. Paris, Éditions Michèle Trinckvel, 1984. 2 volumes (the text volume, folio size 370 x 280 mm; the lithograph set, large folio size 460 x 325 mm). Full cherry morocco, smooth spine with silver and gold lettering, upper cover adorned with a stylized profile of Malraux wearing a black box hat with a mosaic pattern and black fillets, black box linings, the front endpaper adorned with a second mosaic portrait in gray box leather with gray piping, gray box leather endpapers, edges gilt on endpapers, covers and spine preserved, bordered slipcase. Separate volume in a red half-maroquin slipcase with stripes, smooth spine with silver and gold lettering, edged slipcase. Bindings signed Alix. 158 pp., one portrait and 10 double-page lithographs, black-and-white drawings reproduced in the text. The upper jaw of the slipcase for the companion volume is cracked over approximately 20 cm. A superb illustrated edition featuring a signed portrait and 10 lithographs by the Spanish painter Eduardo Arroyo (1937–2018), one of the leading figures of Narrative Figuration. His highly graphic, colorful style, tinged with irony, offers a powerful counterpoint to the lyricism of these ten famous commemorative speeches. Delivered by Malraux between 1958 and 1965, primarily while he served as Minister of Cultural Affairs under General de Gaulle, these tributes celebrate the great figures of art, history, and the Resistance, such as Jean Moulin, Joan of Arc, and Le Corbusier. Limited edition of 495 numbered copies on large Arches vellum, this one being one of 20 containing a separate suite of 10 lithographs numbered and signed by the artist (no. 22) and the original signed drawing of one of the in-text illustrations (silhouette of Jean Moulin on page 124). A very fine copy bound in a delicate mosaic-patterned binding by Alix.