Lithograph, 1961

Publisher : Nouveau Cercle parisien du Livre (Paris)

Printer : Mourlot (Paris)

Catalog : Vallier 171 Mourlot 78

32.00 cm. x 25.00 cm. | 12.6 in. x 9.84 in. (paper)

27.00 cm. x 20.00 cm. | 10.63 in. x 7.87 in. (image)

Japan kosu paper

The work we propose is one of the four lithographs taken from the illustrated book "Descente aux Enfers" written by Marcel Jouhandeau and published by the Nouveau Cercle Parisien du Livre in 1961.

The novelist retraces the itinerary of his return to his native town, Guéret, through encounters with the people he knew as a child. Anxiety intrudes as he ventures into this place, the first theater of his inspiration. Between nostalgia, melancholy and hope, the novel echoes the personal torments of the author, torn between his homosexuality and his Catholic education. If God seems to haunt him, introspection and morality obsess him: "If man does not understand hell, it is because he has not understood his own heart...".

The image that Braque composes could seem dissonant compared to the text of Jouhandeau. The artist immerses us in an aerial view with soft, highly saturated colors and earthy tones. The image is also composed of leafy, floral and winged forms, like a flight over a dreamed nature. The poetics of the evanescent work is opposed to the drama of its title but exposes the complexity of the spirit of the text it illustrates.

Certificate of authenticity
Very good condition
Handsigned by the artist in pencil

Ref : LCD2805