A r t & I l l u s t r a t i o n 94 Illustrated Edition Of Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs Du Mal, One Of Only 320 Copies Signed By Matisse 123. (MATISSE, Henri, illustrator.) BAUDELAIRE, Charles. Les Fleurs duMal. Paris, 1947. Quarto, contemporary full navy morocco, custom slipcase. $9200. Splendid signed limited illustrated edition of Baudelaire’s masterpiece in the original French, one of only 320 copies signed by Matisse, with one original etching on Chine paper as a frontispiece, 33 full-page original lithographs—evocative portraits complimenting the poems—and numerous woodcut ornaments, all by Matisse. Beautifully bound in a decorative full morocco binding by Manuel Gérard. “In the first week of June [1944] the Allies landed in Normandy to begin advancing south and east, driving the Germans before them through France. Matisse had plunged back into work, attempting to blot out his feelings by illustrating Baudelaire’s Fleurs du mal… Paris was liberated on 24 August. Nelck, posing three days later for a drawing for the Fleurs du mal, cried out when she saw a troop of enemy occupants march past the window, but Matisse did not even turn his head. ‘Never let it be said that I stopped work to watch the Germans depart,’ he said grimly” (Spurling, Matisse the Master, 422-23). Text in French. Fine condition, beautifully bound. “Slowly I discovered the secret of my art. It consists of a meditation on nature, on the expression of a dream which is always inspired by reality.”—1925 interview with Matisse
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