ARTAUD (Antonin). - Lot 90

ARTAUD (Antonin). Revolt against poetry. Paris, 1944. -In-8, 250 x 190: (12 ff. 2 first and last blank), printed cover. Dark green morocco, original painting signed by Néjad pasted on the boards, smooth spine, gilt head, untrimmed, cover and spine preserved, bordered slipcase (Devauchelle). Very rare edition, printed in an edition of only 50 copies on Arches paper, plus 12 present-day copies not mentioned in the justification. This manifesto, denouncing the violence of poetry, was written and first published in a mimeographed version by Artaud in 1943 at the psychiatric hospital in Rodez, where he was interned. The 1944 edition, almost as rare, is the first to be printed, not the original as indicated in the book. A precious copy bound by Devauchelle, covered on the boards with an original abstract painting signed by the Turkish painter NÉJAD DEVRIM (1923-1995). "A young Turkish painter, barely twenty-five, with dazzling talent and a dazzling personality, established himself as one of the revelations of post-war Paris. Born in Istanbul in 1923, Néjad Devrim's richness of style and personal charm were equally impressive. He became a regular at the salon of Alice B. Toklas, Gertrude Stein's companion. [...] For Georges Boudaille, the work of Nejad Devrim (1923 - 1995) can be understood as a search for the junction between Islamic heritage and Western art. Arriving in Paris in 1946, he came face to face with modernity and threw himself wholeheartedly into the great adventure of the Second School of Paris. His work, imbued with an Eastern heritage that he would never renounce, turned resolutely towards abstraction. The following year, he had a solo show at a gallery and, in 1950, was chosen by gallery owner Sidney Janis to exhibit in New York with Pollock and de Kooning. Until the end of the 60s, he continued to exhibit and travel in Europe, the United States, Central Asia and the Soviet Union, founding the Salon d'Octobre with critic Charles Estienne, and befriending many other artists, particularly Sonia Delaunay, with whom he was very close. When he chose, in his own way, to turn his back on success, to leave Paris and go into exile in Poland, one of the most brilliant and singular artists of abstraction was eclipsed. Despite this voluntary effacement, he will always be recognized as a defining artist. His painting is immediately striking for the richness of its colors and constructions, with a force that appears almost brutal, but is always mastered" (arguments by Editions El Viso for the book Néjad Devrim - La dernière bohème by Clotilde Scordia, published in 2023). The copy is enhanced by a black-and-white photograph of Artaud's portrait painted by Yvonne Gilles, and two brochures for two exhibitions of Néjad's work, one in New York in 1956 and the other in Copenhagen in 1961. Spine slightly faded.