Manuscript written by Breton on the occasion of Yahne Le Toumelin’s exhibition at the Galerie d'Orsay, dated 16 October 1957.
On the occasion of Yahne Le Toumelin’s exhibition at the Galerie d'Orsay in November 1957, Breton contributed a preface that is also a robust intervention on the situation of contemporary art. Here he contrasts those who make undue claims to follow the work of Duchamp and Kandinsky but in reality produce nothing but ‘sample books’ – today we might say wallpaper – and those both more daring and more authentic approaches that, rather than settling for formalist games, address questions of a ‘vital order’. Le Toumelin, precisely, is one of those who, far from the forefront of the art scene, are advancing towards this goal. The text would be reprinted in 1965 in the definitive edition of Le Surréalisme et la peinture. [Atelier André Breton website, 2005]
Signed handwritten manuscript, dated Paris, 16 October 1957.
- 1 1/2 in-4° manuscript pages, titled, signed and dated in ink by Breton of this first draft text devoted to the painting of Yahne Le Toumelin:
‘“Since”, she remarks smiling, “I have the misfortune to express something when I paint, the gallery owners have so far showed themselves either embarrassed or positively annoyed.” It is only too true that in 1957 we have reached a point where art critics no longer risk any fundamental opinion, and where the public is offered the pleasures of the eye alone. [...] In opposition to the currently fashionable calligraphic exercises which delude themselves with the hope that the symbol can pre-exist the thing signified, she uses a vocabulary and a syntax burnished with the very special disciplines she has made her own.’ [Auction catalogue, 2003]
Translated by Krzysztof Fijalkowski
André Breton (Édition publiée sous la direction d'Étienne-Alain Hubert avec la collaboration de Philippe Bernier et Marie-Claire Dumas), « Yahne Le Toumelin », Le Surréalisme et la Peinture, Œuvres complètes, tome IV, Écrits sur l'art et autres textes, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Paris, Gallimard, 2008, pages 653 à 657, notice et notes p. 1337-1338.
| Creation date | 16-oct.-57 |
| Bibliographical material | 2 in-4° pages. |
| Languages | French |
| Physical description | Ms - encre noire |
| Number of pages | 2 |
| Reference | 704000 |
| Breton Auction, 2003 | Lot 2448 |
| Keywords | Exhibitions, Painting |
| Categories | Andre Breton's Manuscripts |
| Set | [Breton's Manuscripts and Drawings] dossier Le Surréalisme et la peinture |
| Exhibitions | Yahne le Toumelin , Surréalisme..., MNAM Centre Pompidou | Centenaire du Manifeste du surréalisme |
| Permanent link | https://cms.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100294920 |
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Invitation au vernissage de l'exposition organisée à la galerie d'Orsay du 4 au 19 novembre 1957.
Quatre images, une notice descriptive, une exposition, une bibliographie, un lien.
[Breton's Manuscripts and Drawings] dossier Le Surréalisme et la peinture
