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Dessins: Aquarelles, pastels, plumes et crayons
L'un des livres les plus lus dans le monde au vingtième siècle est un conte illustré : Le Petit Prince d'Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, publié, dès 1943 aux Etats-Unis et en France en 1946, " avec des aquarelles de l'auteur". Au commencement de la fable, un pilote accidenté - qui aimait jadis dessiner des serpents boas - esquisse, à la demande d'un jeune monarque rencontré dans le désert, une boîte pour un mouton. " S'il vous plaît... dessine-moi un mouton! " Voici donc un écrivain dont l'œuvre littéraire et le message de fraternité acquièrent leur pleine consécration par l'alliance inédite du dessin et du récit poétique. L'auteur était inspiré, on le sait, et il excellait dans la forme courte ; par le soin qu'il porta aux moindres détails de la composition de son livre imagé, il ouvrit la voie à une prodigieuse aventure éditoriale. En publiant Le Petit Prince quelques mois avant sa disparition, Saint-Exupéry nous laissait aussi le témoignage le plus abouti de sa passion pour le dessin, passion d'enfance qui ne l'avait jamais quitté. Nombre de ceux qui le fréquentèrent en ont témoigné : l'écrivain-pilote n'aimait rien plus que jouer, chanter ou dessiner. De cette activité graphique témoignent aujourd'hui de nombreuses esquisses, des croquis ou œuvres plus achevées, reproduits jusqu'alors de façon dispersée. Nous avons souhaité les rassembler dans ce catalogue, en enrichissant cette réunion d'un ensemble exceptionnel de nombreux dessins inédits, recueillis auprès de multiples collectionneurs. Les pages de manuscrits ornées par leur auteur côtoient les feuillets volants laissés aux parents, amis et compagnes, les pages de carnets, les lettres ou les dédicaces illustrées... De Casablanca à New York, du château de Saint-Maurice-de-Rémens à ses domiciles parisiens, Saint-Exupéry n'a cessé de laisser derrière lui, à l'aquarelle et au pastel, à la plume ou au crayon, les dessins nés de sa fantaisie, de son inspiration, de ses rencontres. Se déploie dès lors, comme en marge de ses écrits, une œuvre graphique authentique et très singulière, d'un intérêt majeur pour qui veut saisir, et partager aussi, l'Imaginaire et la sensibilité d'Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
328 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
15 people want to read
About the author
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
1,571 books8,795 followersPeople best know French writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry for his fairy tale
The Little Prince
(1943).
He flew for the first time at the age of 12 years in 1912 at the Ambérieu airfield and then determined to a pilot. Even after moving to a school in Switzerland and spending summer vacations at the château of the family at Saint-Maurice-de-Rémens in east, he kept that ambition. He repeatedly uses the house at Saint-Maurice.
Later, in Paris, he failed the entrance exams for the naval academy and instead enrolled at the prestigious l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts. In 1921, Saint-Exupéry, stationed in Strasbourg, began serving in the military. He learned and forever settled his career path as a pilot. After leaving the service in 1923, Saint-Exupéry worked in several professions but in 1926 went back and signed as a pilot for Aéropostale, a private airline that from Toulouse flew mail to Dakar, Senegal. In 1927, Saint-Exupéry accepted the position of airfield chief for Cape Juby in southern Morocco and began his first book, a memoir, called Southern Mail and published in 1929.
He then moved briefly to Buenos Aires to oversee the establishment of an Argentinean mail service, returned to Paris in 1931, and then published Night Flight , which won instant success and the prestigious Prix Femina. Always daring Saint-Exupéry tried from Paris in 1935 to break the speed record for flying to Saigon. Unfortunately, his plane crashed in the Libyan Desert, and he and his copilot trudged through the sand for three days to find help. In 1938, a second plane crash at that time, as he tried to fly between city of New York and Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, seriously injured him. The crash resulted in a long convalescence in New York.
He published Wind, Sand and Stars , next novel, in 1939. This great success won the grand prize for novel of the academy and the national book award in the United States. Saint-Exupéry flew reconnaissance missions at the beginning of the Second World War but went to New York to ask the United States for help when the Germans occupied his country. He drew on his wartime experiences to publish Flight to Arras and Letter to a Hostage in 1942.
Later in 1943, Saint-Exupéry rejoined his air squadron in northern Africa. From earlier plane crashes, Saint-Exupéry still suffered physically, and people forbade him to fly, but he insisted on a mission. From Borgo, Corsica, on 31 July 1944, he set to overfly occupied region. He never returned.
He flew for the first time at the age of 12 years in 1912 at the Ambérieu airfield and then determined to a pilot. Even after moving to a school in Switzerland and spending summer vacations at the château of the family at Saint-Maurice-de-Rémens in east, he kept that ambition. He repeatedly uses the house at Saint-Maurice.
Later, in Paris, he failed the entrance exams for the naval academy and instead enrolled at the prestigious l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts. In 1921, Saint-Exupéry, stationed in Strasbourg, began serving in the military. He learned and forever settled his career path as a pilot. After leaving the service in 1923, Saint-Exupéry worked in several professions but in 1926 went back and signed as a pilot for Aéropostale, a private airline that from Toulouse flew mail to Dakar, Senegal. In 1927, Saint-Exupéry accepted the position of airfield chief for Cape Juby in southern Morocco and began his first book, a memoir, called Southern Mail and published in 1929.
He then moved briefly to Buenos Aires to oversee the establishment of an Argentinean mail service, returned to Paris in 1931, and then published Night Flight , which won instant success and the prestigious Prix Femina. Always daring Saint-Exupéry tried from Paris in 1935 to break the speed record for flying to Saigon. Unfortunately, his plane crashed in the Libyan Desert, and he and his copilot trudged through the sand for three days to find help. In 1938, a second plane crash at that time, as he tried to fly between city of New York and Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, seriously injured him. The crash resulted in a long convalescence in New York.
He published Wind, Sand and Stars , next novel, in 1939. This great success won the grand prize for novel of the academy and the national book award in the United States. Saint-Exupéry flew reconnaissance missions at the beginning of the Second World War but went to New York to ask the United States for help when the Germans occupied his country. He drew on his wartime experiences to publish Flight to Arras and Letter to a Hostage in 1942.
Later in 1943, Saint-Exupéry rejoined his air squadron in northern Africa. From earlier plane crashes, Saint-Exupéry still suffered physically, and people forbade him to fly, but he insisted on a mission. From Borgo, Corsica, on 31 July 1944, he set to overfly occupied region. He never returned.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 22, 2021
I love this book. I bought it on a sale, because why not? It's Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. I know nothing of his work save The Little Prince, but I loved the illustrations in it, so I thought a book of his drawings and other works couldn't be a waste of money. I was proven right.
Most of the work presented in this aren't "proper" artworks, they're either doodles or sketches or illustrations he's done in the margins of letters, manuscripts or pieces of what ever paper was on hand. Some are drawings or paintings for specific people, almost all of them were most likely not meant to be seen by the public. Which is what I love about this whole collection. Because it's such a lovely display of the everyday creativity of a wonderful mind. Put together these many, many pictures tell a story and show a progression in style, but more than anything it's clearly used by the author as an outlet, as a way of expressing himself. No wonder The Little Prince is so dependent on its illustrations, Antoine himself apparently loved to used them in his everyday life - at least to some extent.
Some are simply doodles, some are beautiful, some are funny, some show wonderful talent, some are paired with either letters or small comments, which add to the feeling in them. There's also quite a bit of his work from when he was in the army, and the early stages of The Little Prince. And a lot more. Some has been shown before and some are entirely new. I wish I could show you some of them.
It's not made to be read in one go. It's a book you read bit by bit, one you look at when you feel a little down, or when you want to feel inspired. The personal nature of much of the work is perhaps what makes this book so great, it really felt like I was holding in my hands a piece of someone's life. A beautiful experience.
Most of the work presented in this aren't "proper" artworks, they're either doodles or sketches or illustrations he's done in the margins of letters, manuscripts or pieces of what ever paper was on hand. Some are drawings or paintings for specific people, almost all of them were most likely not meant to be seen by the public. Which is what I love about this whole collection. Because it's such a lovely display of the everyday creativity of a wonderful mind. Put together these many, many pictures tell a story and show a progression in style, but more than anything it's clearly used by the author as an outlet, as a way of expressing himself. No wonder The Little Prince is so dependent on its illustrations, Antoine himself apparently loved to used them in his everyday life - at least to some extent.
Some are simply doodles, some are beautiful, some are funny, some show wonderful talent, some are paired with either letters or small comments, which add to the feeling in them. There's also quite a bit of his work from when he was in the army, and the early stages of The Little Prince. And a lot more. Some has been shown before and some are entirely new. I wish I could show you some of them.
It's not made to be read in one go. It's a book you read bit by bit, one you look at when you feel a little down, or when you want to feel inspired. The personal nature of much of the work is perhaps what makes this book so great, it really felt like I was holding in my hands a piece of someone's life. A beautiful experience.
Displaying 1 of 1 review