Dons des féminines

Artist Valentine Penrose (French, 1898-1978)

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

Publisher Librairie "Les pas perdus," Paris, 1951 (Valentine Penrose & Marcel Zerbib)

Author Valentine Penrose (French, 1898-1978)

Date1951

DimensionsBook: H: 13 1/8 in. (333 mm); W: 10 1/8 in. (257 mm); Depth: 7/16 in. (11 mm).
Page: H: 13 1/8 in. (333 mm); W: 10 1/16 in. (256 mm).
Sheet: H: 12 3/4 in. (324 mm); W: 10 in. (254 mm).
Image: H: 8 1/2 in. (216 mm); W: 6 1/2 in. (165 mm).

MediumOriginal prints: etching in black on china paper, plus a second impression in sepia, and 1 impression in green from the cancelled plate. Original plate: cancelled copper plate. Reproductions: 46 line block reproductions of Penrose's collages assembled primarily from etched 19th century magazine and newspaper images, incl. 26 full-page collages. Text: letterpress. Paper: Alfa white wove paper.

ClassificationBooks

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

Object number

1984.901

Not on View

Label TextValentine Penrose was the first wife of Roland Penrose, who is known chiefly as a champion of surrealism and as a writer about surrealist art. This book is comprised of collages (recalling those of Max Ernst) and "automatic" text by Valentine, who created a sort feminine phantasmagoria, it was probably Eluard (who knew both Penrose and Picasso ) who was instrumental in getting Picasso to create an etching for this book. Picasso's print Le Couple shows two women on a bed, entwined in an embrace.Published Referencescf. Goeppert, Sebastian, et al., Pablo Picasso: The Illustrated Books, Catalogue raisonné, Geneva, 1983, no. 61.Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Picasso as an Illustrator, Jan. 23-May 29, 1988, no. 30.