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Chaval graveur. Phantasmes

Name: Chaval graveur. Phantasmes
SKU: CHAV-001
Price: 530 EUR
Availability: InStock

SKU CHAV-001

Chaval graveur. Phantasmes is a rare pataphysical homage to the graphic imagination of Chaval, the pseudonym of Yvan Francis Le Louarn. The book appeared on 4 Décervelage XCIX, corresponding to 1 January 1972, from the Collège de ’Pataphysique, and was printed by Imprimerie Union. It reproduces eighteen engravings in facsimile and adds a short catalogue raisonné, preceded by a presentation by Louis Barnier. Chaval’s world is dry, absurd, dark and precise at once: his phantasmatic figures may look like simple jokes, yet often have the sharpness of pocket-sized nightmares. This copy is especially notable: exemplaire VI, one of the 33 exemplaires lépidoptéraux, identifiable by the butterfly stamp. The ensemble also includes a loose reproduction print bearing the text “Exposition du 14 au 29 février 1972” and Chaval’s signature in the plate. The book thus becomes not only a facsimile edition, but also a small exhibition and reception dossier around Chaval within the pataphysical circle.

Quantity

Louarn], Chaval [Yvan Francis Le

Chaval graveur. Phantasmes

1972 | Paris | Collectif, Collège de ’Pataphysique

This copy of Chaval graveur. Phantasmes is a notably strong object through its combination of facsimile engravings, catalogue raisonné, lepidopteral stamp and loose exhibition print. As VI of the 33 exemplaires lépidoptéraux, it has clear bibliophile added value.

€530

Condition Report:

In-Depth Study

References & Bibliography

Format

In-4 (Quarto) approx. 25 × 32 cm

Edition Particulars

One of 33 exemplaires lépidoptéraux, this copy VI, with butterfly stamp; ensemble with loose Chaval reproduction print for the exhibition of 14 to 29 February 1972.

Print Run

33 Copy Number

VI

Paper

Balkis blanche

Inscription

No inscription

Product DETAIL

The work consists of a short presentation, a facsimile suite of eighteen engravings and a brief catalogue raisonné. It is not a narrative book, but a dossier devoted to Chaval’s graphic “phantasms”: autonomous images in which human figures, absurd situations and oppressive humour meet. The plates show Chaval as an engraver of restrained disruption, where a single line or posture can open an entire psychological trap. The catalogue structure gives the images a quasi-scientific order, while the title preserves their dreamlike and obsessive charge. The loose exhibition reproduction links the book to a concrete reception context in February 1972. The content is therefore retrospective, documentary and imaginative at once: it preserves a small graphic world in which laughter remains very close to anxiety.

ARTISTIC RELEVANCE

Chaval’s artistic relevance lies in his exceptional mastery of the brief visual shock. As draughtsman and engraver, he worked with an apparently simple, lucid line, but his images often tip into the absurd, the cruel or the metaphysically comic. The eighteen facsimile engravings show how strongly his work depends on black-and-white contrasts, emptiness, gesture and psychological tension. Within the pataphysical context, this visual language finds an especially fitting place: Chaval makes exception visible without explaining it. The butterfly stamp of the lepidopteral issue adds a playful classificatory sign to this graphic sharpness, as though the edition itself belonged to his bestiary.

AVANT GARDE CONTEXT

The avant-garde relevance is strong through the link with the Collège de ’Pataphysique, where humour, classification and visual absurdity could become serious forms of knowledge. Chaval does not belong simply to one avant-garde movement, but his graphic logic touches Surrealism, black humour, absurd theatre and the post-Jarryan tradition. His images do not present a decorative dream-world, but a lucid reality that suddenly becomes inexplicable. The 1972 facsimile edition turns that visual world into an ordered pataphysical object, complete with date, series, stamp and catalogue raisonné. The absurd is therefore not only drawn, but inventoried. Precisely this tension between exact documentation and destabilizing fantasy makes the work highly relevant for The Hidden Page.

PLACE IN THE OEUVRE

Within Chaval’s oeuvre, Chaval graveur. Phantasmes is an important document because it separately reveals his less expected activity as an engraver. Chaval is best known for his drawings and cartoons, but this suite shows how his humour and unease could be concentrated in the stricter graphic medium of engraving. Louis Barnier’s presentation and the short catalogue raisonné place the plates in a reflective context. For the Collège de ’Pataphysique, the edition is also a recognition of Chaval as a kindred spirit: dry, precise, absurd and fundamentally suspicious of ordinary logic. The added exhibition reproduction further strengthens the ensemble as a document of posthumous or retrospective reception around 1972.

PUBLISHING CONTEXT

The publication appeared in Paris from the Collège de ’Pataphysique and was printed by Imprimerie Union on 4 Décervelage XCIX, corresponding to 1 January 1972. It was issued as a quarto of approximately 28 × 22.4 cm, paperbound in white Balkis wrappers, with [4] pages, XVIII plates of facsimile engravings and [3] final pages. The bibliographical description records a facsimile reproduction of eighteen engravings with a short catalogue raisonné. This copy is exemplaire VI, one of the 33 exemplaires lépidoptéraux. The butterfly stamp marks that special subseries. The loose reproduction print bearing the announcement “Exposition du 14 au 29 février 1972” links the edition to a concrete exhibition and enriches the whole as an ephemera dossier.

ANECDOTE

The lepidopteral designation is a wonderful pataphysical invention: a deluxe or head category marked not by gold or splendour, but by a butterfly. The stamp makes the copy playfully taxonomic, as though the book itself had become a specimen. This suits Chaval’s universe beautifully, where human and animal, joke and anxiety, precision and madness often lie close together. The loose exhibition print adds a second trace: it shows how Chaval was presented again to the public in February 1972. Exemplaire VI thus acquires double value, as a rare stamped copy and as part of a small exhibition ensemble.

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