The International Surrealist Exhibition - Thursday June 11th to Saturday July 4th 1936 Signed by Nine of the Artists
193653024London: New Burlington Galleries / Women's Printing Society Ltd 1936. First Edition. Slim octavo 24cm; pictorial wrappers saddle-stitched; 311pp. French gallerist and art dealer Pierre Loeb's copy with "Exemplaire de Pierre Loeb" in red ink on title page by E.L.T. Mesens along with his signature and those of the following individuals associated with the exhibition directly beneath: Shiela Legge André Breton Jacqueline B. Jacqueline Lamba Breton's wife Roland Penrose David Gascoyne Humphrey Jennings Hans Arp and George Reavey. Light external wear and dust-soil wrappers starting to pull away from staples with some scattered discoloration to rear wrapper; a few very light pencil marks in-text else contents quite fresh; Very Good. Housed in a custom clamshell case. Well-preserved catalog of the first Surrealist art exhibition in England organized by artist Roland Penrose and poet David Gascoyne and held at the New Burlington Galleries from June 11th - July 4th 1936. A ground-breaking event described alternately as chaotic indecent and inspiring the organizers assembled nearly 400 paintings and sculptures by 71 Surrealist artists including Hans Arp Jacqueline B. Hans Bellmer Constantin Brancusi Alexander Calder Salvador Dali Marcel Duchamp Alberto Giacometti René Magritte Joan Miró Paul Nash Pablo Picasso Man Ray Yves Tanguy and others. The three-week event was a true spectacle involving Dalí delivering a lecture and nearly passing out while wearing a full deep-sea diving suit Sheila Legge's performance as "The Phantom of Sex Appeal" in Trafalgar Square and poet Dylan Thomas circulating among the guests at the opening offering them cups of boiled string. In addition to listing all 392 works in the exhibit the catalog features a cover illustration by Max Ernst an English-language preface by André Breton translated by Gascoyne and an introduction by Herbert Read. A significant copy signed by several artists and presented to French gallerist Pierre Loeb one of the great champions of Surrealism. On its own a somewhat elusive catalog rarely seen with such a collection of signatures the auction record showing the last such copies for sale in 1976 George Hugnet's copy signed by nine and 1973 Suzanne Malherbe and Claude Cahun's copy signed by 11. 53024. New Burlington Galleries / Women's Printing Society, Ltd unknown
Lorne Bair Rare Books · États-Unis3 250,00 $US≈ 2 749,83 €
