Jean Cocteau, Hopeless, Lithograph, 1930s

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Hopeless is a Colored lithograph realized on japan paper by Jean Cocteau (1889 -1963) in 1930 ca. French draftsman, poet, … Read more Hopeless is a Colored lithograph realized on japan paper by Jean Cocteau (1889 -1963) in 1930 ca. French draftsman, poet, essayist, playwright, librettist, film director. Excellent condition, no signature. The artwork represents a portrait of a young man. Jean Cocteau , influential french artist and writer, is a major figure of Surrealism.The “magical-like sense of resemblance”, which has been pursued by the artist since his earliest drawings, must have developed from his observance of Sem (Georges Gourçat) and Leonetto Cappiello ’s caricatures. Following their examples, Cocteau cultivates the synthetic intensity of line in order to build a firstly graphic and secondly plastic artwork, utterly aiming at representing the human figure, be it a portrait or an imaginary character. Slightly touching on avant-gardes, Cubism , and metaphysics, yet without adhering to any of them, Jean Cocteau draws deep inspiration from two of the most important figures of the 20th-century artistic landscape: Picasso and de Chirico . In 1928, the Galerie des Quatre Chemins, by then Cocteau’s gallery for both the exhibitions and the publications of the artist, hosts an exhibition titled “ Drawings of a sleeper ”. These twenty-five drawings, although perfectly exemplifying Jean Cocteau’s sensitivity for the art of lines, lack a sort of spontaneity that will instead characterize later illustrations of a work dated 1930 and titled “ Opium ”. As concerns the importance that the French artist attributed to the line, defined by him as a living continuumof all its paths, his own words are worthy of mention: “the line makes a continuous note that not the ear or the eye perceive. It is the style of the soul, in a certain way, and if this line ceases to live in itself, if it does not draw but an arabesque, the soul is absent…”. Also present in the manifold production of the French artist are wall decorations, where the strong and fluent drawing line become the most personal and distinctive trait of his art. This piece is attributed to the mentioned designer/maker. It has no attribution mark and no
official proof of authenticity,
however it is well documented in design history. I take full responsibility for any authenticity



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