Description

ORIGINAL EDITION of Paul Morand's most famous work.
ONE OF 60 COPIES ON VELLUM PUR FILAfter 8 copies on Japon impérial.
SPECIALLY PRINTED PERSONAL COPY for Mrs and Mr André Rodocanachi (1914-2001), a famous collector and bibliophile who, like Paul Morand, was a French ambassador.

The book is illustrated with 19 original Indian ink drawings by Philippe Hosiasson.  (a handwritten note under the colophon).

A French painter of Ukrainian origin and a relative of Boris Pasternak, Philippe Hosiasson (1898-1978) studied in Odessa and published a text in Russian on El Greco. In 1919, he left Odessa, which was under German and French occupation, for Rome, where he became friends with André Derain, and then Berlin in 1922, where he became a decorator for Boris Romanov's Russian ballets. He moved to Paris between the wars and obtained French nationality in 1928, becoming a member of the "École de Paris". He tried to reach the United States during the Second World War, but was forced to take refuge in a chalet south of Barcelonnette. In 1946, he exhibited at the Salon des Surindépendants alongside Viera da Silva, Matta, Riopelle, Mathieu and Soulages.
Jean Cassou asked him to write the introduction to his book on The looting by the Germans of works of art and libraries belonging to French Jews signed by Philippe Hosiasson under the pseudonym Jacques Sabile, The aesthetic doctrine of National Socialism and the organisation of the Fine Arts under the Third Reich.  He obtained a position at the Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine, a job that would have a profound influence on his early abstract works.
Michel Tapie became one of his fervent supporters after his participation in the Salon de Mai 1954, and enabled him to exhibit at the Galerie du Haut du Pavé and then at the Galerie Sadler. Influenced by Clifford Still and close to Helen Frankethaler, Hosiasson exhibited regularly at the Galerie Kootz until 1960 and, with the help of Sam Francis, joined the Galerie Karl Flinker in 1961.

André Rodocanachi's library contained several works illuminated by Philippe Hosiasson, including a fine copy of The announcement to Mary bound by Pierre-Lucien Martin sold in 2009 when the library of Pierre-Louis Natural was dispersed.

Rare and sought-after.