Le Ciel Bleu. Hebdomadaire littéraire pour tous. De l'autre coté du miroir ... Nos. 1 - 9. (All Published)
Ciel Bleu. Capel, Rose. (Ed.)
Brussels. 1945
A fine set of the complete series of the Belgian Surrealist review 'Le Ciel Bleu' issued during the closing months of World War II.
The Belgian Surrealist periodical, 'Le Ciel Bleu' was directed by Rose Capel together with Paul Colinet, Christian Dotremont and Marcel Mariën. Issued weekly in newspaper format, the review concentrated more on text (prose, poetry, and theory) than on the visual, but did include illustration by Magritte, Robert Willems, Annie Desmets, P. Sanders and Suzanne van Damme. The usual coterie of Surrealist contributors and precursors are present and unpublished work by Breton, Scutenaire, Béalu,Achille Chavée, André Souris, Milk-Yes-La [sic], Picasso, Jean Pfeiffer, Piqueray, and Armand Permantier, amongst others. A young Marcel Broodthaers, 21 at the time of publication, contributed the poem 'L'île sonnante' to issue 7; Broodthaers is cited as 'Marcel Broodhaerts'.
'In the first issue, Mariën's 'Pourquoi le ciel est bleu' sets the tone for post-war Surrealism in Belgium, with its insitence on optimism. 'The sky is blue because it is the symbol par excellence, the concrete image, the memento of the innumerable possibilities of life ... / 'A new, human morality, founded on pleasure, the happiness of all, is traced across the tatters of our hypocritical conventions which are the brutal negation of daily reality ... / 'At the heart of the storm, of that artificial night which is unrolled today over the world, the blue sky - from the other side of the mirror - is our only chance of safety.'' (Dawn Ades).
[Ades 16.42, see pp. 412 - 414 & 417 - 418].
The Belgian Surrealist periodical, 'Le Ciel Bleu' was directed by Rose Capel together with Paul Colinet, Christian Dotremont and Marcel Mariën. Issued weekly in newspaper format, the review concentrated more on text (prose, poetry, and theory) than on the visual, but did include illustration by Magritte, Robert Willems, Annie Desmets, P. Sanders and Suzanne van Damme. The usual coterie of Surrealist contributors and precursors are present and unpublished work by Breton, Scutenaire, Béalu,Achille Chavée, André Souris, Milk-Yes-La [sic], Picasso, Jean Pfeiffer, Piqueray, and Armand Permantier, amongst others. A young Marcel Broodthaers, 21 at the time of publication, contributed the poem 'L'île sonnante' to issue 7; Broodthaers is cited as 'Marcel Broodhaerts'.
'In the first issue, Mariën's 'Pourquoi le ciel est bleu' sets the tone for post-war Surrealism in Belgium, with its insitence on optimism. 'The sky is blue because it is the symbol par excellence, the concrete image, the memento of the innumerable possibilities of life ... / 'A new, human morality, founded on pleasure, the happiness of all, is traced across the tatters of our hypocritical conventions which are the brutal negation of daily reality ... / 'At the heart of the storm, of that artificial night which is unrolled today over the world, the blue sky - from the other side of the mirror - is our only chance of safety.'' (Dawn Ades).
[Ades 16.42, see pp. 412 - 414 & 417 - 418].
[9 bifolia of different newspaper print paper stock, nos. 8 & ( on green paper as isued]. 9 vols. Folio. (c.368 x 276 mm). Front cover of each 4-page issue with printed orthographic banner headline in blue (final number in different format in red), printed text in French and monochrome illustration throughout in four columns by various artists, poets etc. (see below), the sheets folded as issued in good condition with some very slight wear to edges and folds. Loose as issued, later protective blue card board box with title to front flap in blue twine, interior with painted vignettes in white of birds in flight.
#48313
