Jésus-Christ Rastaquouère
Picabia, Francis. Ribemont-Dessaignes, Georges
(Paris). Collection Dada. 1920
An extraordinary unique copy of Picabia's seminal dada text with a signed original drawing, an extensive presentation and additional manuscript notes and aphorisms by Picabia.
From the edition limited to 1,060 numbered copies, with this one of 1,000 ordinary copies after 10 on chine and 50 on pur fil Lafuma.
Picabia's signed original drawing - and the accompanying presentation - is to the initial blank and shows the head and bare shoulders of a young woman (characteristically and as noted in the catalogue raisonné of Picabia's graphic work, the eyes and lips are 'more fully modelled than their surroundings'), with her seemingly gloved hands raised in front of her chest; the drawing is signed at lower right. Although the drawing is from what has come to be categorised as Picabia's 'Proto Pop Art' period in the early '40s, characterised by figuration and realism, the motif of the glove recalls its extensive and suggestive use in Surrealism as well as in Picabia's wider oeuvre.
Picabia's presentation is in pencil to the outer edge of the same leaf: 'à Germaine / Pittet / très sympathiquement / Francis Picabia / 25 mars 1940 / Golfe Juan'.
Picabia has, in addition, added further aphorisms and notes in pencil and even gone so far as to intervene with the text of the book (see below). A note by him alludes to the fact that he has secured the body of the text - remnants of the black gummed paper tape used adhere still to the final blank leaf verso - an act of self-censorship to remain in force until 1942. It seems unlikely that 1942 is an arbitrary choice of date by Picabia and suggests that he foresaw something of importance occurring then or that he considered Germaine too young in 1940 to read his 1920 text that had caused such a scandal when first published. The final aphorism by Picabia would have been sealed within the sealed / censored section of the text.
The beginning of the Second World War found Picabia in Switzerland with Olga before they travelled to the south of France to Golfe Juan where they remained for the duration. Picabia, in his own words (writing to Léonce Rosenberg), found solace in the studio: 'I worked a lot after my return from Switzerland, from morning to evening I didn’t leave my studio, it was the only way for me to forget … '. Although Picabia drew and painted many têtes de femmes in the early part of the war, few, unlike the present example, are dated. Many of those painted were taken by Picabia from photographic source material ('Paris Sex-Appeal', 'Paris Magazine', 'Paris Plaisirs' &c.) although some - and the drawing presented here, strongly personal and associated as it is with both Picabia's contemporary ideas, strongly Nietzschean, and his earlier dada philosophy, seems a very likely candidate - were drawn from life.
Although we cannot locate any biographical details regarding Germaine Pittet, a further signed portrait of her by Picabia - executed in pen and ink with coloured pencil on paper laid on board - also dated to 1940 was sold by Christie's New York in 1986.
The manuscript interventions, all in pencil in Picabia's hand, are as follows:
- Initial blank (recto): Presentation and signed original drawing;
- Title: 'Ce qui m'unit à l'amour c'est / la vie et cette alliance associera / éternellement mon nom à l'amour.' (above Picabia's name at head of leaf); 'Les hommes sont / malades : ils sont malades / car les problèmes qu'ils portent / en eux sont des purs problèmes / d'hystérie. Francis Picabia' (beneath the title);
- Half-title: 'Les hommes sont / malades : ils sont malades / car les problèmes qu'ils portent / en eux sont des purs problèmes / d'hystérie.' (above the title 'Jésus-Christ Rastaquouère'); 'n'oubliez pas votre promesse - / Vous ne devez pas ouvrir ce / livre avant 1942 -' (all underlined and beneath the title); 'FIAT VERITAS / PEREAT VITA ... mais cela n'est pas certain ... ' (at foot of the leaf); this leaf also bears traces of the removal of the same tape that adheres to the final leaf;
- Leaf with two quotations by Picabia: 'Je crois que je sais / mieux que n'importe / qui aimer car personne / ne peut atteindre / les ravissements / étranges / de ma vie. F. P.';
Introduced by Gabrielle Buffet, Picabia dedicates 'Jésus-Christ Rastaquouère' - fittingly it would seem in the present case - 'à toutes les jeunes filles'. His text, considered his most important and one of the most important of Paris Dada, is illustrated with three monochrome dessins by Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes. These fantastical machine drawings, highly reminiscent of Picabia's own, are 'Portrait de la Reine de Perou', 'Maladie Légale' and 'Nocturne Capitons - Grand Mâle Général'. Picabia's Nietzschean 'FIAT VERITAS PEREAT VITA' (note Picabia's own capitals) recalls also Max Ernst's 'FIAT MODES PEREAT ARS'
' ... perhaps the most important Dadaist document of that period: as opposed to other contemporary works that fall into the realm of literary creation, 'Jésus-Christ Rastaquouère' is - though this is not obvious from its sacrilegious title - an essay on Dadaist 'philosophy' ... Thanks to 'Jésus-Christ Rastaquouère', Dada found itself endowed with the elementary theoretical foundation it had been lacking until then.' (Michel Sanouillet).
'Picabia's career is a kaleidoscopic series of art experiences. They are hardly related to one another in their external appearances, but are definitely marked by a strong personality.' (Marcel Duchamp).
'Until recently these works [Picabia's proto-Pop paintings and drawings from Golfe Juan in the early '40s] were either seen as curiosities or simply as 'kitsch' - but what makes them interesting for the viewer today is not so much the painterly process involved as the context ... As the development of art in the last two decades has shown it is not only those artistic strategies that are concerned with incorporating popular images into the realm of art that prove to be of significance, but also those that 're-cycle- these same images. Picabia may in fact be regarded as a pioneer in this field.' (Zdenek Felix and Chris Dercon).
This copy of 'Jésus-Christ Rastaquouère' with its signed original drawing is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from the Comité Picabia; the certificate also notes that the book and drawing will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Picabia's work.
[Ades 7.23; see Michel Sanouillet's 'Dada in Paris', MIT, 2012; see 'Francis Picabia: Catalogue Raisonné Volume IV 1940 - 1953' for other examples; see 'Francis Picabia: The Later Works 1933 - 1953', 1998].
From the edition limited to 1,060 numbered copies, with this one of 1,000 ordinary copies after 10 on chine and 50 on pur fil Lafuma.
Picabia's signed original drawing - and the accompanying presentation - is to the initial blank and shows the head and bare shoulders of a young woman (characteristically and as noted in the catalogue raisonné of Picabia's graphic work, the eyes and lips are 'more fully modelled than their surroundings'), with her seemingly gloved hands raised in front of her chest; the drawing is signed at lower right. Although the drawing is from what has come to be categorised as Picabia's 'Proto Pop Art' period in the early '40s, characterised by figuration and realism, the motif of the glove recalls its extensive and suggestive use in Surrealism as well as in Picabia's wider oeuvre.
Picabia's presentation is in pencil to the outer edge of the same leaf: 'à Germaine / Pittet / très sympathiquement / Francis Picabia / 25 mars 1940 / Golfe Juan'.
Picabia has, in addition, added further aphorisms and notes in pencil and even gone so far as to intervene with the text of the book (see below). A note by him alludes to the fact that he has secured the body of the text - remnants of the black gummed paper tape used adhere still to the final blank leaf verso - an act of self-censorship to remain in force until 1942. It seems unlikely that 1942 is an arbitrary choice of date by Picabia and suggests that he foresaw something of importance occurring then or that he considered Germaine too young in 1940 to read his 1920 text that had caused such a scandal when first published. The final aphorism by Picabia would have been sealed within the sealed / censored section of the text.
The beginning of the Second World War found Picabia in Switzerland with Olga before they travelled to the south of France to Golfe Juan where they remained for the duration. Picabia, in his own words (writing to Léonce Rosenberg), found solace in the studio: 'I worked a lot after my return from Switzerland, from morning to evening I didn’t leave my studio, it was the only way for me to forget … '. Although Picabia drew and painted many têtes de femmes in the early part of the war, few, unlike the present example, are dated. Many of those painted were taken by Picabia from photographic source material ('Paris Sex-Appeal', 'Paris Magazine', 'Paris Plaisirs' &c.) although some - and the drawing presented here, strongly personal and associated as it is with both Picabia's contemporary ideas, strongly Nietzschean, and his earlier dada philosophy, seems a very likely candidate - were drawn from life.
Although we cannot locate any biographical details regarding Germaine Pittet, a further signed portrait of her by Picabia - executed in pen and ink with coloured pencil on paper laid on board - also dated to 1940 was sold by Christie's New York in 1986.
The manuscript interventions, all in pencil in Picabia's hand, are as follows:
- Initial blank (recto): Presentation and signed original drawing;
- Title: 'Ce qui m'unit à l'amour c'est / la vie et cette alliance associera / éternellement mon nom à l'amour.' (above Picabia's name at head of leaf); 'Les hommes sont / malades : ils sont malades / car les problèmes qu'ils portent / en eux sont des purs problèmes / d'hystérie. Francis Picabia' (beneath the title);
- Half-title: 'Les hommes sont / malades : ils sont malades / car les problèmes qu'ils portent / en eux sont des purs problèmes / d'hystérie.' (above the title 'Jésus-Christ Rastaquouère'); 'n'oubliez pas votre promesse - / Vous ne devez pas ouvrir ce / livre avant 1942 -' (all underlined and beneath the title); 'FIAT VERITAS / PEREAT VITA ... mais cela n'est pas certain ... ' (at foot of the leaf); this leaf also bears traces of the removal of the same tape that adheres to the final leaf;
- Leaf with two quotations by Picabia: 'Je crois que je sais / mieux que n'importe / qui aimer car personne / ne peut atteindre / les ravissements / étranges / de ma vie. F. P.';
Introduced by Gabrielle Buffet, Picabia dedicates 'Jésus-Christ Rastaquouère' - fittingly it would seem in the present case - 'à toutes les jeunes filles'. His text, considered his most important and one of the most important of Paris Dada, is illustrated with three monochrome dessins by Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes. These fantastical machine drawings, highly reminiscent of Picabia's own, are 'Portrait de la Reine de Perou', 'Maladie Légale' and 'Nocturne Capitons - Grand Mâle Général'. Picabia's Nietzschean 'FIAT VERITAS PEREAT VITA' (note Picabia's own capitals) recalls also Max Ernst's 'FIAT MODES PEREAT ARS'
' ... perhaps the most important Dadaist document of that period: as opposed to other contemporary works that fall into the realm of literary creation, 'Jésus-Christ Rastaquouère' is - though this is not obvious from its sacrilegious title - an essay on Dadaist 'philosophy' ... Thanks to 'Jésus-Christ Rastaquouère', Dada found itself endowed with the elementary theoretical foundation it had been lacking until then.' (Michel Sanouillet).
'Picabia's career is a kaleidoscopic series of art experiences. They are hardly related to one another in their external appearances, but are definitely marked by a strong personality.' (Marcel Duchamp).
'Until recently these works [Picabia's proto-Pop paintings and drawings from Golfe Juan in the early '40s] were either seen as curiosities or simply as 'kitsch' - but what makes them interesting for the viewer today is not so much the painterly process involved as the context ... As the development of art in the last two decades has shown it is not only those artistic strategies that are concerned with incorporating popular images into the realm of art that prove to be of significance, but also those that 're-cycle- these same images. Picabia may in fact be regarded as a pioneer in this field.' (Zdenek Felix and Chris Dercon).
This copy of 'Jésus-Christ Rastaquouère' with its signed original drawing is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from the Comité Picabia; the certificate also notes that the book and drawing will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Picabia's work.
[Ades 7.23; see Michel Sanouillet's 'Dada in Paris', MIT, 2012; see 'Francis Picabia: Catalogue Raisonné Volume IV 1940 - 1953' for other examples; see 'Francis Picabia: The Later Works 1933 - 1953', 1998].
[36 leaves; pp. 66, (i)]. Large 8vo. (232 x 166 mm). Leaf with title, leaf with half-title recto and Picabia's dedication verso, leaf with aphorisms by Picabia recto, 'Introduction' by Gabrielle Buffet verso and on following recto and Chapters I - VII of Picabia's text illustrated with 3 full-page monochrome 'dessins' by Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes, leaf with justification recto. Original publisher's grey / blue card wrappers, cream paper label with printed titles in black to front cover.
#48525
