Le piège de Méduse: Comédie lyrique en un acte de M. Érik Satie, avec musique de danse du même monsieur [drama]
Artist: Georges Braque (French, 1882 - 1963)
Publisher: Éditions de la Galerie Simon (André Simon et cie.) (Paris, 1921)
Author: Érik Satie (French, 1866-1925)
Date: 1921
Dimensions:
Book: H: 12 7/8 in. (327 mm); W: 9 5/16 in. (236 mm); Depth: 1/4 in. (6 mm)
Page (untrimmed): H: 12 5/8 in. (321 mm); W: 8 7/8 in. (225mm)
Medium: Original prints: 3 woodcuts in colors
Text: letterpress in black with red
Paper: Van Gelder cream laid paper
Classification: Books
Credit Line: Gift of Molly and Walter Bareiss
Object number: 1984.295
Label Text:This publication of a "lyrical comedy in one act " with dance music by the composer Satie contained Braque's examples of late cubist art.
Georges Braque, Le piège de Méduse: comédie lyrique en un acte de M. Érik Satie
(The Sting of the Jellyfish: Lyrical Comedy in One Act by Érik Satie). Music by
Érik Satie (1921)
The French composer Érik Satie only wrote one play. His main character, the bizarre aristocrat Baron Méduse (Baron Jellyfish), was a self-parody of the composer. Satie also composed a series of dances for the play. The script calls for a gigantic stuffed monkey to periodically appear and frolic to the music. Instead of using common terms to guide a musician’s performance—such as “slowly” or “with spirit”—the Monkey Dances have such whimsical directions as “Be decent, please: a monkey is looking at you” and “Laugh without people noticing it.”
In 1921, at the time of the play's premier, the art dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler published it in a deluxe limited edition with three woodcuts by the Cubist artist Georges Braque. These were Braque’s first original book illustrations and it was a sympathetic collaboration. The publisher was a champion both of Cubism and of Braque’s painting, and Braque was a close friend of Satie.
Georges Braque, Le piège de Méduse: comédie lyrique en un acte de M. Érik Satie
(The Sting of the Jellyfish: Lyrical Comedy in One Act by Érik Satie). Music by
Érik Satie (1921)
The French composer Érik Satie only wrote one play. His main character, the bizarre aristocrat Baron Méduse (Baron Jellyfish), was a self-parody of the composer. Satie also composed a series of dances for the play. The script calls for a gigantic stuffed monkey to periodically appear and frolic to the music. Instead of using common terms to guide a musician’s performance—such as “slowly” or “with spirit”—the Monkey Dances have such whimsical directions as “Be decent, please: a monkey is looking at you” and “Laugh without people noticing it.”
In 1921, at the time of the play's premier, the art dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler published it in a deluxe limited edition with three woodcuts by the Cubist artist Georges Braque. These were Braque’s first original book illustrations and it was a sympathetic collaboration. The publisher was a champion both of Cubism and of Braque’s painting, and Braque was a close friend of Satie.
Not on view
In Collection(s)