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Project for a Crepin exhibition at the Étoile scellee

Manuscript

Author

Author André Breton
People cited René Barotte, Jean Bouret, Fleury Joseph Crépin, Jean-Marie Lumière, Patrick Waldberg

Description

Manuscript by André Breton composed of press cuttings on the mediumistic artist Joseph Crépin for an exhibition devoted to Crépin from 10 to 30, November 1955 at L'Étoile scellée.

There is a painting on the back one would unhesitatingly describe as indecipherable; on the front, there is a press review of articles and news items that had been devoted to Crépin since 1946. Breton, who owned a few of this mediumistic artist’s work, would himself publish an article in Combat about him on 14 June 1954. The article, which was first written in 1948 and would be reprinted in Le Surréalisme et la peinture, was initially intended for the Almanach de l'art brut, produced in collaboration with Fautrier. Breton was in contact with the painter, who told him about some of his experiences. [Atelier André Breton website, 2005]

Handwritten manuscript, sd [1955].
- 1 page in-8, handwritten in ink by Breton of critical articles in the press concerning the painter Joseph Crépin:
‘Always very calm, this psychic painter declares that he will die when he has painted his 45 marvellous temples, the sketches of which had already been done on paper. [...]’ René Barotte, Four and Three, 1946. [Breton indicates at the bottom of the page:] This was exactly right. It was during the execution of this forty-fifth painting (No. 13 in the present exhibition) that Joseph Crépin died.’ [sale catalogue, 2003]

*Translated by Michael Richardson.

Bibliography

André Breton (Édition publiée sous la direction d'Étienne-Alain Hubert avec la collaboration de Philippe Bernier et Marie-Claire Dumas), « Joseph Crépin », Le Surréalisme et la peinture, Œuvres complètes, tome IV, Écrits sur l'art et autres textes, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Paris, Gallimard, 2008, p. 710, notice p. 1356.

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