Afat: Seventy-Six Sonnets (Afat: soixante-seize sonnets)

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Afat: Seventy-Six Sonnets (Afat: soixante-seize sonnets)

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

Publisher Le degré quarante et un, [Paris], 1940 (Iliazd)

Printer text and typography: Imprimerie Union, Paris; engravings: Roger Lacourière, Paris (Philippe Molinié)

Author Iliazd (Ilia Zdanevitch) Russian, 1894-1975

Date1940

DimensionsChemise: H: 8 13/16 in. (224 mm); W: 13 1/16 in. (331 mm); Depth: 7/8 in. (22 mm).
Book: H: 8 9/16 in. (217 mm); W: 12 5/16 in. (313 mm); Depth: 7/8 in. (22 mm).
Page (untrimmed): H: 7 15/16 in. (201 mm); W: 11 3/4 in. (298 mm).

MediumOriginal prints: 2 aquatints (arabesques) and 4 engravings. Text: letterpress. Paper: white Montval wove à la cuve paper, watermarked.

ClassificationBooks

Credit LineGift of Molly and Walter Bareiss in honor of Barbara K. Sutherland

Object number

1984.885

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Works on Paper

Published Referencescf. Garvey, Eleanor M., The Artist & the Book, 1860--1960, Boston, 1961, no. 229

cf. Goeppert, Sebastian, et al., Pablo Picasso: The Illustrated Books, Catalogue raisonné, Geneva, 1983, no. 33

cf. Isselbacher, Audrey, Iliazd and the Illustrated Book, New York, 1987, no. 19

cf. The Frank Crowninshield Collection of Modern French Illustrated Books, New York: Parke-Bernet Galleries, 1943, no. 615

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. 65.

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Picasso as an Illustrator, Jan. 23-May 29, 1988, no. 12

Toledo Museum of Art, The Bareiss Collection of Modern Illustrated Books from Toulouse-Lautrec to Kiefer, 1985, no. 60.

Label TextThe Russiann poet and publisher Iliazd moved to Paris in 1921. AFAT, which means both "sadness" and "beautiful woman," was the first of nine books Picasso and Iliazd did together. The innovative Russian-born, Paris-based poet and publisher Iliazd collaborated with Picasso on nine books, AFAT being the first. The title derived from the Arabic word which means both "unhappiness" and a "beautiful woman who inspires unhappy love." The text is comprised of 76 sonnets about love and feminine beauty. All publications of the 41st Degree were designed by Iliazd, who began issuing books under the imprint in 1919. The unususl publisher name was a cryptic reference to the latitude of Iliazd's birthplace, Tiflis, the alcoholic content of brandy, and the Celsius measure of a delerium-producing fever. AFAT was Iliazd's first deluxe book, and he selected its paper and parchment material with great care.