Vivantes Cendres, Innommées

Paris: Jean Hugues, 1961. Internally fine and very well preserved; the slipcase and chemise stained. Folio (330 x 254 mm). [18 bifolia: 58, [2], [1] pages]. Half-title, original etched frontispiece portrait of Leiris by Giacometti, printed title and Leiris' verse illustrated with 12 original etchings by Giacometti, final leaf with justification; sheet size: 325 x 250 mm. Text and plates loose as issued in original printed wrappers; glassine; cloth chemise with printed title on spine; matching slipcase. One of 100 copies of Giacometti's striking collaboration with Leiris, this is copy number 33 signed by Giacometti, Leiris, and initialed by Hugues on the justification page. Printed on BFK Rives. "It was said that Giacometti was never completely at ease with the medium of intaglio printmaking, but one would never know that from the confidence and artistry displayed in these thirteen etchings. Giacometti's genius lay in his ability to reduce his subject to the lines of artistic necessity, leaving nothing in excess. Like twisted wire filling a void, his line is thin yet strong, calligraphic yet descriptive" (Logan).

Luce Hoctin described the collection as "'meditations, half-confidences of a being riveted to a bed fixed in a room by illness' in which the sculptor-illustrator 'identifies himself with the patient.' The apprehensive tension of the poet is echoed in Giacometti's expressive lines which correspond to the theme of these highly subjective poems" (quoted in The Artist and the Book, p. 190).

Leiris (1901-1990) wrote the first critical text on the then unknown artist in 1929. They remained close friends, confidantes, and collaborators until Giacometti's death in 1966. Logan Collection, no. 141, p. 225; Lust 108-120; The Artist and the Book in France, p. 332.