L'Art brut préféré aux arts culturels + Le Bal des Ardents
This ensemble unites two exceptionally closely related documents from the circle of Jean Dubuffet. *L'Art brut préféré aux arts culturels*, published by Galerie René Drouin in 1949, is one of the foundational programmatic publications of early Art Brut. The text sets out Dubuffet's rejection of culturally sanctioned art and champions creation produced outside academic and professional circuits. Pierre Bettencourt's *Le Bal des Ardents* represents the parallel world of independently printed experimental bookmaking. This copy belongs to the extremely limited group of 33 copies enriched by Dubuffet in 1964 with seven papillons, whose internal illustrations are heightened in watercolor. The conjunction of manifesto, experimental printing and manual artistic intervention gives the two works exceptional coherence. For a library devoted to Art Brut and the post-war avant-garde, the ensemble is a key object in which theory and book art meet directly.
Quantity
Dubuffet, Jean
Bettencourt, Pierre
L'Art brut préféré aux arts culturels + Le Bal des Ardents
1949 | Paris; Saint-Maurice-d'Ételan | Galerie René Drouin; Le Solstice [Pierre Bettencourt]
This ensemble unites a major programmatic document of Art Brut with an exceptionally limited state of Bettencourt's experimental book, enriched by Dubuffet's own hand. It forms an unusually tangible link between post-war avant-garde theory and the artist's book.
This ensemble unites two exceptionally closely related documents from the circle of Jean Dubuffet. *L'Art brut préféré aux arts culturels*, published by Galerie René Drouin in 1949, is one of the foundational programmatic publications of early Art Brut. The text sets out Dubuffet's rejection of culturally sanctioned art and champions creation produced outside academic and professional circuits. Pierre Bettencourt's *Le Bal des Ardents* represents the parallel world of independently printed experimental bookmaking. This copy belongs to the extremely limited group of 33 copies enriched by Dubuffet in 1964 with seven papillons, whose internal illustrations are heightened in watercolor. The conjunction of manifesto, experimental printing and manual artistic intervention gives the two works exceptional coherence. For a library devoted to Art Brut and the post-war avant-garde, the ensemble is a key object in which theory and book art meet directly.
€3,750
Condition Report:
In-Depth Study
References & Bibliography
Format
Divers
Edition Particulars
Two original editions housed together in a modern custom box. *Le Bal des Ardents*: copy N°15 of only 33 copies enriched by Jean Dubuffet in 1964 with seven papillons, whose internal illustrations are heightened in watercolor; uncut.
Print Run
120
Copy Number
N°15
Inscription
No inscription
Product DETAIL
In *L'Art brut préféré aux arts culturels*, Jean Dubuffet champions artistic creation produced outside established cultural institutions and the professional art world. He contrasts the spontaneity and independence of such creators with art shaped and codified by culture. The publication is connected with the activities of the Compagnie de l'Art Brut and the early presentation of Art Brut in Paris in 1949. *Le Bal des Ardents* is a text by Pierre Bettencourt belonging to his experimental literary and typographical production. First published in 1953, the book was issued in a special state in 1964 enriched by Jean Dubuffet. Seven papillons were added to this limited group, with their internal illustrations heightened in watercolor. The ensemble thus brings together a theoretical manifesto and a materially experimental artist's book.
Michaux, Henri · Bettencourt, Pierre
Arriver à se réveiller
A rare first edition of Arriver à se réveiller, written by Henri Michaux in the tremulous post-war years. The text unfolds as an inward journey toward lucidity, where sleep and waking mirror each other. Printed and published by Pierre Bettencourt in his own workshop, the edition’s small run preserves the work’s intimacy. The title-page vignette, a linocut by Bettencourt, sets a spare, rhythmic visual key that amplifies Michaux’s vigilant, vulnerable tone. This copy is handsomely bound in brown morocco with balsa boards by Miguet, a tactile nod to lightness under tension. For bibliophiles, it is an exemplary union of poetry, craft, and experiment. The volume embodies the independence of the post-war small press and Michaux’s radical sensitivity.
Illustrated Book
€680
Éluard, Paul
Au rendez-vous allemand
Au rendez-vous allemand is one of the emblematic collections of Éluard’s wartime poetry. The book appeared in 1944 from Les Éditions de Minuit, the publishing house that, under the Occupation, became a moral landmark of the French literary Resistance. The volume gathers poems in which love, mourning, revolt and hope appear not as abstractions but as immediate necessities under German rule. The frontispiece, a portrait of the poet after Picasso, gives the book a powerful artistic signature: two voices of modern France, poet and artist, stand here in the same struggle. This is an ordinary, unnumbered copy, but signed by Éluard on the first page. That signature makes the book more than a Resistance document: it becomes a tangible witness to literary presence in a historically charged year. For the collector, it unites the clandestine aura of Minuit, Picasso’s name and Éluard’s own hand.
Illustrated Book
€350
Derain, André
Amis & Amille. Mystère du XIVe siècle.
This sumptuously bound book brings a medieval mystery to life through a rare collaboration between ancient literature and modern illustration. The geometric box design on garnet morocco provides striking contrast. André Derain’s 22 color lithographs – including one double and three full-page – enhance the narrative with expressive visual force. Printed on Rives vellum in an edition of 180 numbered copies, this copy (No. 72) was made for Baroness Vaxelaire and includes a suite on fine Japanese paper. The binding by Lucie Weill exemplifies artisanal excellence. A harmonious blend of narrative tradition and graphic daring.