Description

Manuscript signed by André Breton and dated 21 February 1956. "A horror, an inhumanity", Sade said in 1793 - Sade, an authority boldly summoned here to denounce the death penalty; "an anachronism", added Breton in 1956, in this text which also refers to Hugo and Roger Caillois. The year 1956 saw Breton resume a more pronounced militant activity, even if it was only based on broadly humanist themes, far from any commitment to the service of one political party or another. In January he signed a tract against racism and fascism, and it is now against the death penalty that he is protesting against. [Atelier André Breton website, 2005] Autograph manuscript signed by André Breton and dated 21 February 1956 in Paris. 1/2 page in-4° handwritten, dedicated and signed by André Breton, with some erasures and corrections, in black ink, of a text taking a stand against the death penalty: " ‘A horror, an inhumanity’, it is in these terms that on 2 August, 1793, at the risk of his life, the Marquis de Sade, president of the Piques section, refused to put to the vote a motion in favour of the death penalty, in protest against which he resigned from his duties. This allegedly legal crime against man - the most inexcusable of all - is known to have been condemned by Victor Hugo - in vain." [Auction Catalogue, 2003].

Bibliography

André Breton (Édition publiée sous la direction d'Étienne-Alain Hubert avec la collaboration de Philippe Bernier et Marie-Claire Dumas), « [Sur la peine de mort] », Inédits, Œuvres complètes, tome IV, Écrits sur l'art et autres textes, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Paris, Gallimard, 2008, p. 1141-1142, notice p. 1472.

 

Creation date	21/02/1956
Bibliographical material	MS, black ink - 1/2 page in-4° with some erasures and corrections.
Languages	French
Place of origin	Paris
Number of pages	1 p.
Reference	592000
Breton Auction, 2003	Lot 2422
Keywords	Work notes, Politics
Categories	Andre Breton's Manuscripts
Set	[AB's Manuscripts] Miscellaneous Manuscripts
Permanent link	https://cms.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100173870