The Song of the Dead (Le chant des morts)

Artist Pablo Picasso (Spanish (active France), 1881-1973)

Publisher Éditions Verve, Paris, 1948 (Tériade)

Printer lithographs: Mourlot Frères, [Paris] text: Draeger Frères, [Paris]

Author Pierre Reverdy (French, 1889-1960)

Date1948

Dimensionsbox: 18 1/8 x 14 x 1 7/8 in. (460 x 356 x 48mm)
book: 16 3/4 x 12 3/4 in. (425 x 324mm)
page: 16 5/8 x 12 5/8 in. (422 x 321mm)

MediumOriginal prints: 125 lithographs in orange (including covers) Text: lithographed, letterpress Paper: Arches cream wove paper

ClassificationBooks

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number

1979.33

Not on View

Label TextAlthough Picasso had known the Greek-born publisher Teriade for years throuh his associations with the noted art magazines 'Cahiers d'art', 'Minotaure', and 'Verve', LE CHANT DE MORTS was tobe their only illustrated book collaboreation. For this text, Picasso decided to creat a new type of illustration. Similar in principle to medieval illuminated manuscripts, Picasso made large calligraphic strokes, printed in vibrant orange, to interact with the black hand-written text on each page. Themarkings thus endowed the pages with a ritual quality.Published Referencescf. Castleman, Riva, A Century of Artists Books, New York, 1994, pp. 129 cf. Strachan, W. J., The Artist and the Book in France; The 20th Century livre d'artiste, New York, 1969, p. 340 cf. Johnson, Robert Flynn, Artists' Books in the Modern Era 1870--2000: The Reva and David Logan Collection of Illustrated Books, San Francisco, 2001, no. 70