BERNARD Émile. Reunion of 66 large original wash drawings, m - Lot 92

BERNARD Émile. Reunion of 66 large original wash drawings, mostly signed: illustration project for John Milton's Paradise Lost (from Chateaubriand's translation, 1836). Paris, ca. 1936-1938; 66 ff. large in-folio (375 x 290 mm), black morocco binding, spine ribbed (Jansenist?). MAGNIFICENT UNPUBLISHED ILLUSTRATION PROJECT COMPRISING 66 POWERFUL ORIGINAL WASHINGS INCLUDING FIFTEEN SKETCHES BY THE PAINTER ÉMILE BERNARD (1868-1941). Friend of Van Gogh, Cézanne, Gauguin, founder with the latter of the School of Pont-Aven, he illustrated with original engravings a dozen books, six of which were published by Ambroise Vollard: The Flowers of Evil (two different editions), the Odyssey, the Little Flowers of St. Francis, Villon, Ronsard ... We owe him nearly 1400 compositions drawn and engraved by his hand. ATTACHED TO THIS EXCEPTIONAL COLLECTION ARE 45 AUTOGRAPHIC LETTERS FROM ÉMILE BERNARD relating to the project, addressed to the sponsor of the edition, the Swiss Albert-Louis Natural, bibliophile and later ambassador of the Confederation in China (1918-2002), and 11 duplicate typed letters from him. Painter, poet and critic of art, the artist points out the difficulties of execution of the program: "The powerful side of Satan revolted is likely to produce admirable compositions by the size and the ardent energy". Declaring that the inspiration was capricious for him, he regrets not being able to set a date for completion. However, on August 21, 1938, he wrote: "My work is finished; but I do not consider it as such; because by reading and rereading Milton's work one sees appearing a constant number of images of which my fifty-two drawings [sic, for 66] are a weak version [...]. It would have taken a Michelangelo for such a task". Then the question of the printing process arises: "Do you envisage a mechanical reproduction of the drawings or their engraving in etchings by my hand? It seems to me that this would give them a bibliophilic value...". The trials of etchings having remained without success, Natural suggested to come to lithography, affirming that the strength of the drawings translated by this process would bring the illustration of Milton closer to that of Delacroix's Faust. The discussions stopped at the end of 1938. The outbreak of the Second World War and the death of Émile Bernard in 1941 put an end to the project. From the library A.L. Natural, Paris, December 7-8, 2009, n° 407.