Temperature (Température)

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Temperature (Température)

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

Publisher PAB [Pierre André Benoit], Alès, 1960

Printer [Pierre Benoit, Alès]

Author Jacqueline Roque (French, 1926-1986)

Date1960

DimensionsBook: H: 13/16 in. (21 mm); H: 1 5/8 in. (41 mm); Depth: 1/8 in. (3 mm).
Page: H: 13/16 in. (21 mm); W: 1 1/2 in. (38 mm).
Image (trimmed within the plate): H: 13/16 in. (21 mm); W: 1 1/2 in. (38 mm).

MediumOriginal prints: 4 celluloid drypoints (incl. wrapper). Text: letterpress (typeface: Garamond italic). Paper: Arches cream wove.

ClassificationBooks

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

Object number

1984.931

Not on View

Label TextThe poem in this miniscule book is by Jacqueline Roque, Picasso's companion since 1953, and his wife from 1961. Benoit was accorded the privilege of publishing Picasso's smallest book because Benoit had complained that he had had no part in producing Picasso's largest book.Picasso's tiny spare drypoints show a sailboat on the sea, a rising sun, a landscape with a tree and birds, and an undulating ocean (suggested by two lines). The translation of the poem is: "What is the matter with people/why are they so chilly/in their hearts?/no sooner do they open them a bit/than they close them up again/at the slightest puff of air." Publisher: Pierre André Benoit Joan Miró, Le visage s'invente (The Face Invents Itself). Text by Benoit (1957) Georges Braque, Passionné (Passionate). Text by Édith Boissonnas (1958) Marcel Duchamp, L’équilibre (Equilibrium). Text by Francis Picabia (1958) Marcel Duchamp, Tiré à 4 épingles (Printed with 4 Pins). Text by Pierre de Massot (1959) Pablo Picasso, Meurs (Die). Text by Benoit (1960) Pablo Picasso, Température (Temperature). Text by Jacqueline Roque (1960) Pablo Picasso, Toute la vie (All of Life). Text by Benoit (1960) Jean Dubuffet, Oreilles gardées (Guarded Ears). Text by Benoit (1962) Pierre André Benoit (who published under his initials PAB) was fond of printing very small books. He would solicit artwork from his friends, sending them several sheets of celluloid on which they could scratch a drypoint engraving. He printed the engravings himself and sometimes wrote his own poem or text to accompany the print. He published 15 tiny books with art by Picasso, 3 with Duchamp, and 4 with his friend Dubuffet. Many other artists and writers were tapped for this personal obsession. Unlike other publishers, who spent years on a single publication, Benoit would send a finished book to an artist only a few weeks after receiving an image. Editions were no more than 30 or 40 copies. One of Benoit’s most substantial publications was his first collaboration with Jean Dubuffet. Dubuffet suggested his own design for the book, but was happy to defer to Benoit. Oreilles gardées was printed on a simply wove paper in a larger format than Benoit usually preferred. The drawings for the book were mechanically reproduced and the text was set out by Benoit himself with the use of rubber letters given to him by Dubuffet.Published Referencescf. Goeppert, Sebastian, et al., Pablo Picasso: The Illustrated Books, Catalogue raisonné, Geneva, 1983, no. 104, reprs.

cf. Garvey, Eleanor M., The Artist & the Book, 1860--1960, Boston, 1961, no. 245

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. 84.

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, The Bareiss Collection of Modern Illustrated Books from Toulouse-Lautrec to Kiefer, 1985, no. 70.

Toledo Museum of Art, Picasso as an Illustrator, 1988, no. 52

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