Mimes des courtisanes de Lucien
Year: 1935
Author: Lucianus Samosatenus (0120 - 0180)
Artist: Edgar Degas (1834 - 1917)
Publisher: Ambroise Vollard, éditeur
Ambroise Vollard
Art dealer and publisher Ambroise Vollard wanted to use the illustrations by Degas that featured those themes to illustrate Louÿs' Mimes des courtisanes de Lucien. A number of illustrations came from a folder of monotypes called Scènes de maisons closes. It soon proved to be difficult to sustain the exact character of Degas' monotypes in copper print. The assistance of Maurice Potin was enlisted, who finally succeeded in creating successful reproductions after six years of precision work.
Vollard came to Paris from La Réunion, a French island off the eastern shore of Africa, initially with the intention to study law. He chose to sign up for medical school, but before long, he began obsessively collecting drawings and engravings. He often purchased the drawings from the artists themselves, for a low price and in large numbers. This would later allow him to make substantial profits. He achieved great success and celebrity by organising Cézanne's solo exhibition in 1895. Exhibitions of the work of a single artist were exceptional at the time. In 1900, he started to publish 'livres d'artiste', which made him one of the founding fathers of the artists' book.
Bibliographical description
Description: Mimes des courtisanes de Lucien / [trad. du grec par] Pierre Louÿs ; ill. d'Edgar Degas. – Paris : Ambroise Vollard, éditeur, 1935. - ix, 83 p., iv bl. pl. : ill. ; 34 cm + 22 gravures
Printer: Aimé Jourde (Parijs) (typography) Maurice Potin (engravings)
Edition: 325 copies
This copy: Number 282 of 305 on Rives
Typeface: Garamond
Bookbinder: Rolando Biondi (Koninklijke Bibliotheek)
Note: With prospectus
Bibliography: Bénézit 4-344 ; Carteret 4-253 ; Monod 7422
Shelfmark: KW Koopman K 321
References
- Jean Adhémar & Françoise Cachin, Edgar Degas: Gravures et monotypes. Paris, Arts et métiers graphiques, 1973
- François Chapon, 'Ambroise Vollard Éditeur', in: Gazette des beaux-arts, 122 (1980) 1, p. 25-38
- Robert Gordon, Andrew Forge, Degas. London, Thames and Hudson, 1988
- Jean-Paul Goujon, Pierre Louÿs: Une vie secrète (1870-1925). Paris, Fayard, 2002
- Una E. Johnson, Ambroise Vollard, éditeur: Prints, books, bronzes. New York, Museum of Modern Art, 1977
- Roy McMullen, Degas: His life, times, and work.London, Secker and Warburg, 1985
- Richard Thomson, Degas: The nudes. London, Thames and Hudson, 1988
- Ambroise Vollard, Degas (1834-1917). Paris, Artistes d'hier et d'aujourd'hui, 1924