JEUX DE CARTES

Fini, Leonor

Edité par (Acanthe), (Paris), 1950

Original boxed set of two gilt-edged decks of playing cards designed by Argentine Surrealist legend Leonor Fini, backed in marbled blood-red and poison-green. Fini's cards were first issued in 1949 or 1950 by Acanthe of Paris, both as single decks and (as here) double sets, with an additional Joker in each deck. Fini's face cards black- and orange-haired Queens, Kings, and Jacks with serpentine beards, ostrich-skin gloves, and untrustworthy eyebrows are modeled after the artist herself, Italian painter Stanislao Lepri, and Polish intellectual Constantin (Kot) Jelenski, with whom she lived in a devoted ménage in Paris from the early 1950s until their deaths. Though often claimed as a Surrealist, Fini withheld her allegiance from the group, being uninterested in the chauvinist precepts of Andre Breton. Dismissed by Dali, who asserted in so many words that talent was stored in the balls, Fini was unbounded by limitations of method, movement, or medium. In addition to her paintings, Fini's immense body of work included poster, costume, and set design for theatre, opera, ballet, and film; the classic perfume bottle design for Schiaprelli's "Shocking"; several novels; and book illustrations for Lise Deharme, the SATYRICON, and the HISTOIRE d'O. An uncommon original full set of these cards, with colors unmatched in later reprints. 5.5'' x 3.5'' (box); 3.5'' x 2.5'' (cards). Original cream box with printed title label, containing two complete card decks of 54 cards each, with two jokers per deck. Cards printed in 11 colors on cream ground. All card edges gilt. Fini's name printed along lower edge of joker cards, publisher's name stamped on Aces of Hearts. Box with one joint carefully repaired, light scuffing, a few small dents. Cards clean. N° de réf. du vendeur 52744

Détails bibliographiques

Titre : JEUX DE CARTES
Éditeur : (Acanthe), (Paris)
Date d'édition : 1950
Reliure : Couverture rigide
Etat : Near fine in very good box.
Edition : First edition.