ÉLUARD, Paul (1895-1952)

ÉLUARD, Paul (1895-1952)

Facile. Poèmes de Paul Éluard. Photographies de Man Ray
Paris, G.L.M. [Guy Lévis-Mano], 1935
First edition, one of 200 “hors commerce” copies
Print: One of the 200 “hors commerce” copies from the 1,200 copies printed on Rives wove paper.
This copy is numbered ‘CLXXV’
Small restored scuff in the upper margin of page 4.
Illustration: 13 photographs of Nusch by Man Ray printed in heliogravure, including one on the cover

One of the most desirable illustrated books of the 20th century

‘Facile, where Nusch’s naked body, photographed by Man Ray, encircles the poems with a clear tenderness and ideal lines…’
(Album Éluard, p. 173)

With a signed autograph inscription by Paul Éluard to René Bertelé, in black ink:

« À René Bertelé
Très amicalement,  
Paul Éluard »

René Bertelé was one of the foremost publishers of poets in the 20th century. In the aftermath of the war, he founded and directed Éditions du Point du Jour—named after a work by André Breton. A close associate of Jacques Prévert, he published Paroles in 1946, the collection that brought the poet to widespread public attention. His publishing house also featured works by Michaux, Breton, Ernst, Soupault, and Queneau.

Born from an artistic collaboration between Man Ray, Paul Éluard, and his wife Nusch, the book exalts her body through the poet’s words and the photographer’s light. Following his collection Au défaut du silence, where Gala was ever-present, Éluard composed these four poems evoking Nusch, which are echoed by a subtle interplay of layout and twelve photographs by Man Ray depicting Nusch entirely nude. Her body never appears in full, a technique characteristic of the “Man of Light.” The work contributed significantly to the revival of eroticism in 1930s art.

The elegance and originality of Facile’s layout, combined with the aesthetic quality of Man Ray’s photographs—characterized by raking light, shadow play, and superimpositions—contribute to the perfection of this legendary work:
“Identical to herself in her inexhaustible creation of self, woman is also like the sign—or better yet: the condition—of the identity of all things. One would almost have to quote entire poems from Facile to convey the true sense of the ‘harmony’ established between feminine eroticism and the fertile energies of the earth—between the gestures of woman and the movements of human destiny…”
(Pierre Emmanuel, Le Je universel chez Paul Éluard)