Die Gesänge des Maldoror

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Die Gesänge des Maldoror

Artist Georg Baselitz (German, born 1938)

Publisher Rogner & Bernhard, Munich, 1976

Author Lautréamont, comte de (French, 1847-1870)

Author Comte de Lautréamont (Isidore Ducasse) (French, 1847-1870)

Date1976

DimensionsBook: H: 6 15/16 in. (176 mm); W: 4 1/2 in. (115 mm); Depth: 7/8 in. (22 mm).
Page: H: 6 15/16 in. (176 mm); W: 4 1/2 in. (115 mm).

MediumReproductions: 20 photolithographs of gouache paintings in colors on coated white wove paper. Text: photolithography (typeface: Times New Roman). Paper: cream wove paper.

ClassificationBooks

Credit LineGift of Molly and Walter Bareiss

Object number

1984.235

Not on View

Collections

Works on Paper

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, The Bareiss Collection of Modern Illustrated Books from Toulouse-Lautrec to Kiefer, no. 4.

Splendid Pages: The Molly and Walter Bareiss Collection of Modern Illustrated Books, Feb. 14--May 11, 2003

Label TextThis German paperback edition of the famous 19th century French text, which inspired Surrealist artists like Dali, was illustrated by one of Germany's leading contempoorary artists. This copy of the book is inscribed to "Herr Bareiss" and signed by the artist. Salvador Dalí, Les chants de Maldoror (The Songs of the Maldoror). Text by comte de Lautréamont (1934) René Magritte, Les chants de Maldoror (The Songs of Maldoror). Text by comte de Lautréamont (1948) Georg Baselitz, Die Gesänge des Maldoror (The Songs of Maldoror). Text by comte de Lautréamont (1976) Lautréamont’s Maldoror doesn't fall into any neat category. It is neither a novel nor a prose-poem, nor is the story traditionally linear. The book is filled with violence and sexuality. It was censored by the French government during Lautréamont’s lifetime, but was published in Belgium. Writer André Breton rediscovered the text in the 1920s and it became a favorite with the Surrealists. When Albert Skira decided to publish the book, Salvador Dalí was honored to be chosen to illustrate it. Skira had already produced books illustrated by Picasso and Matisse. His choice of the young Surrealist for his third publication helped to increase Dalí’s prominence. Dalí's drawings for the book were filled with an irrational, dream-like imagery. He called this style his “paranoic critical method.” Since Maldoror was first published in Belgium, it is fitting that the Belgian artist René Magritte was one of the book's interpreters. As Riva Castleman writes in the Splendid Pages catalogue, “[Magritte’s] full-page illustrations combine his well-developed double entendre imagery of unexpected forms with a new infusion of Expressionist sketches for initials and inserted vignettes.” Magritte's illustrations include imagery known from his earlier work, such as his fish-headed human. The illustrations that Georg Baselitz produced for his Maldoror do not specifically apply to the text. The image of an eagle, which the artist used in his work during the 1970s, was chosen for the cover. It relates to a passage in Chant 3 where Maldoror turns himself into an eagle, kills a dragon, and emerges from the battle “redder than a lake of blood”.