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)

Printer André Tournon et Cie., Paris, 1951

Author Valentine Penrose (French, 1898-1978)

Date1951

DimensionsBook: H: 1 5/16 in. (33 mm); W: 10 1/16 in. (256 mm); Depth: 7/16 in. (11 mm).
Page: H: 13 in. (330 mm); W: 10 in. (254 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: 2 impressions of an etching from the cancelled plate in black on watermarked Arches wove paper. 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 cream wove paper.

ClassificationBooks

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

Object number

1984.902

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.