Le Cadavre Exquis: son exaltation

by André Breton 

Limited edition.  Paris:  Galerie Nina Dausset, 1948  

Pamphlet is overall in VERY GOOD+ condition. 

• Cream wraps under onionskin have titles in black ink. 
• Wraps show some toning at edges, a 1/2" closed tear to back wrap.  Corners are sharp.  See photos.  
• Binding is secure.  
• Endpapers and dustcover returns have some bookseller marks.  
• Illustration, a line drawing, is bright and clear.  
• Interior is gently age-toned.  Inside pages are free of writing and intentional marks.
• PS2025.0821

13 pages. 4.25 x 5.5 inches

A Very Good+ copy of this very scarce little catalogue produced in conjunction with an exhibition held from October 7-30, 1948 at the Paris gallery of Nina Dausset, La Dragonne.  Cream wraps are pink facing the interior, a line drawing illustration faces the title page, the entire booklet is protected by publisher's onionskin wrap.  Three staples secure the gathering.  A small closed tear to the back cover is the only flaw.  Edition limited to 515 copies.

Published to accompany the exhibition, the essay by André Breton lays out the Surealist thought behind the "exquisite corpse" (Cadavre exquis).  It was a composition, either pictorial or verbal, in which each person added an element without knowing what had come before.  It functioned in a manner similar to the parlor game Consequences, as played in Surrealist circles in inter-war France.  The exhibition held at La Dragonne was therefore a collaborative effort.  Seventeen artists, including Man Ray, Joan Miro, Greta Knutson, Max Ernst, and Paul Eluard are listed as contributors to the images on display. 

Printed by the Union press in an edition of 515 copies, 15 of which were on special paper and numbered 1-15.

Please see photos. More photos available upon request.

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