LAURENCIN Marie Les Petites filles.

First edition this charming book illustrated by Marie Laurencin in a wonderful binding by Rose Adler.

Rose Adler was a member of the bookbinding workshop of the Comité des Dames de l’Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs: a Union by women, for women. In 1865, a women’s patronage was set up within the Decorative Arts, initially to collect donations to enrich the collections of the Palais de l’Industrie. In 1895, this gave rise to the ‘Comité des Dames’, which encouraged women’s creativity through exhibitions, competitions and the creation of art schools reserved for women. The bookbinding workshop opened in the 1910s, and over the course of its history has had prestigious students such as Rose Adler, Jeanne Langrand and Geneviève de Léotard. It was not uncommon for former students to work together. The style used in the bindings is resolutely modern and seems to conform to the wishes of the school that trained them, with Art Nouveau and above all Art Deco predominating.

Limited edition of 250 numbered copies, one of 50 copies of the Deluxe copy (number 42) containing an original etching, justified 42/50 and signed in full name by the artist in pencil.

Laurencin was not only a painter, but she was also an illustrator, especially during the interwar period. She illustrated 30 books between 1919 and 1939 and 56 over the course of her career. In this corpus, Les Petites Filles has a special status. Between the illustration and the artist’s book, Laurencin offers a collection of portraits with names as the only caption. Her practice as a painter is felt. Marie Laurencin does not do anything other than what she already does in her painting and which makes her identifiable. She offers a series of women, looking like dolls with a mysterious gaze. The work is a collection not only of little girls, but also of young women. If Laurencin names them, it is to take them out of the anonymity of a sketch. She tries to give them or suggest a personality. Some of them are in action or surrounded by a setting that gives them depth and personality.

In 1942, a new version of Les Petites Filles appeared. This time, the work consisted of eight coloured pencil drawings and a watercolour by Laurencin. This time they accompany a text by Renée de Brimont, thus returning to the practice of illustration.

Lovely mosaïc binding by the famous woman binder Rose Adler.

“Rose Adler naît à Paris le 23 septembre 1890 dans une famille bourgeoise du 17ème arrondissement. C’est sûrement son mari Léon Roger-Marx (issu d’une famille de collectionneurs et lui-même passionné par les arts décoratifs) qui lui ouvre le chemin vers l’art. La devise de la famille de feu son époux « Rien sans art » incarna les convictions de la relieuse et décoratrice, formée à l’École du Comité des Dames de l’Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs (UCAD). A l’âge de trente ans ses reliures étaient déjà exposées et son nom déjà connu par les membres de la Société des Artistes Décorateurs qu’elle rejoint en 1923. Rose Adler a formulé son postulat artistique en ces termes : Le relieur moderne est vraiment moderne en ceci : il est au service du texte. Il veut l’entendre, le faire entendre. Il l’épouse, il l’exalte. Pourtant, il se refuse la description, car toute description serait une illustration… Foncièrement séduits par cette vision harmonieuse et novatrice, le couturier Jacques Doucet, le décorateur Pierre Legrain, l’architecte Pierre Chareau ou encore les poètes Pierre André Benoit et René Char furent ses plus proches amis et lui offrirent un grand soutien. C’est à leurs côtés qu’elle exalta l’élégance et la modernité de ses reliures, couplant incrustations de pierres semi-précieuses aux doublures « bord à bord ». Ses innovations plurielles alimentèrent d’abord le mouvement Art Déco avant de le dépasser pour rejoindre le courant moderniste dont les codes s’accordaient davantage à son esthétique” (Galerie Marcilhac).

Spine (folder and binding) very slightly faded, otherwise a magnificent copy.

Provenance: Bernard Malle (discreet stamp on the last endpaper).