498 - *[PICASSO] LAPORTE (Geneviève).

*[PICASSO] LAPORTE (Geneviève). Les cavaliers d’Ombre. 7 original illustrations by PICASSO, signed with a burin directly on the plate, engraved on copper by Georges Bétemps. Preface by Jacques Audiberti. 1 folio volume in folios, in a slipcase bearing a painted vignette, housed in a gray cloth-covered slipcase bearing Picasso’s signature in red. Complete separate set in a cardboard slipcase. Paris: Foret, June 25, 1954. From the collection of a collector ([Bernard Klein], October 14, 1954). Second edition but FIRST PRINTING of the 7 original out-of-text compositions by PABLO PICASSO, hand-engraved on copper in intaglio by Georges Bétemps. 14 POEMS by Geneviève LAPORTE in two states: the first printed in an edition of 217 copies; this one is 1 of 100 on Johannot pure-thread paper (no. 67). The second edition is limited to 84 copies; this one is 1 of 30 on Johannot pure-thread vellum, including 1 SERIES of scratched engravings, printed on China paper (no. 62). The publisher, Bernard Klein, explains the book’s contents: “The illustrations by Pablo Picasso, created for Geneviève Laporte’s poems, were included as inserts in a limited edition of two hundred copies, the copper plates for which were etched after the print run. A collector, captivated by the beauty of the illustrations and the lyricism of Geneviève Laporte that had inspired them, acquired eighty-four copies, with the aim of presenting Pablo Picasso’s engravings in a new edition, arranged to his liking. (…) For this edition, only the frontispieces that adorned the previous one were used, and the text pages—which had been preserved as “proof copies” by the new publisher—were included with each copy of the present edition.” Upon the death of Dr. Reventos, a childhood friend of Picasso’s, his son wanted to write a book about his father and asked Picasso for his assistance. Deeply moved by his friend’s death, Picasso donated a copper plate he had engraved with a burin, drypoint, and scraper. It depicts a nude with the unmistakable features of Geneviève Laporte, the young woman with a cheerful heart, a deep soul, and an open mind, for whom Picasso had shown generous affection ever since the high school student had come to interview him for a student newspaper in the fall of 1944. He made several drawings of her, notably in Saint-Tropez in July/August 1951, and he illustrated a book of her poems, *Les cavaliers d’ombre*, with his drawings. A VERY BEAUTIFUL BOOK. Ref: Cramer No. 147, p. 354 – Monod II No. 6823