Max Ernst
Une semaine de bonté ou Les sept éléments capitaux.
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Paris, Aux Editions Jeanne Bucher, 1934. Five vols., each 28 x 22,5 cm, (44)pp.; (36)pp.; (50)pp.; (36)pp.; (70)pp.; original wrappers (each cahier a different colour), b/w ill.; in original publisher's slipcase with ill. label. Fine condition without the usual fading to the bright colours of the covers.
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First edition. One of 800 numbered copies on papier Navarre, in fine condition. Every 'cahier' of this collage-novel treats a day of the week, and an element, also giving an example : 1. Dimanche; La Boue; Le Lion de Belfort. 2. Lundi; L'Eau. 3. Mardi; Le Feu; La Cour du Dragon. 4. Mercredi; Le Sang; Oedipe. 5. Jeudi; Le Noir; Le Rire du Coq/L'Ile de Pâques/Vendredi; La Vue; L'intérieur de la vue/Samedi; Inconnu; La Clé des chants. - Werner Spies discusses at length the sophisticated construction of this collage-novel without words in "Max Ernst - Collagen. Inventar und Widerspruch" (Köln, 1974). The different levels, marked by the titles and the colours of the cahiers' covers - Ernst's ambition to recreate here the intensity of the silent film and the interest in 'special murderers' (an interest he shared with other surrealists) - make "Une semaine de bonté" the 'strongest and most recognizably concentrated expression'of the themes of Ernst's work in that period
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