Louis Icart — The Cross-Dressing Carnival and the Discovery. Rabelais, 1936.
$ 46.2
Description
Louis Icart — The Cross-Dressing Carnival and the Discovery. Rabelais, 1936.. "They disguised the pages of the assembly and dressed them as young ladies.". The disguise was always going to end this way. Rabelais knew it. The pages apparently did not. Le Vasseur's 1936 edition is the definitive illustrated Rabelais of the Art Deco period — a luxury bibliophile production printed by Draeger Frères in color heliogravure using multiple etched copper plates. Louis Icart — Original Color Heliogravure, Gargantua et Pantagruel (Le Vasseur Edition, 1936) "Icelles, deguiserent les paiges de l'assemblee et les habillement en damoyselles."-- "They disguised the pages of the assembly and dressed them as young ladies."--Rabelais The pages have been dressed as young ladies for the assembly. Two investigators — a magnificently costumed courtier and an armored knight — have independently arrived at the same discovery by the most direct method available. The expressions confirm the findings. The green legs were, in retrospect, an early indicator. The disguise was always going to end this way. Rabelais knew it. The pages apparently did not. Artist: Louis Icart (1888–1950) Medium: Multiple etched copper plates. Original color heliogravure (photogravure), Printer: Draeger Frères, Paris Publisher: Le Vasseur et Cie, ParisYear: 1936 Paper: Vélin d'Arches Plate mark (cuvette) is visible and lovely, the visible physical artifact of an intaglio copper plate pressed into heavy paper. Sheet size: approximately 9.5 × 7.25 inches, full margins as issued From # 446 of 900 Limited Edition Sets. Photos of the colophon and "Justification du Tirage" are for informational purpose only and are not part of the sale. Le Vasseur's 1936 edition is the definitive illustrated Rabelais of the Art Deco period — a luxury bibliophile production printed by Draeger Frères in color heliogravure using multiple etched copper plates. Louis Icart built his reputation on elegant, sensual depictions of Parisian women — polished, fashionable, and largely decorative. The 1936 Rabelais commission placed him in entirely different territory: broad physical humor and the full carnival spirit of a text that has been transgressing decorum since 1532. The result is unmistakably Icart in line and color, but working in a register — grotesque, comic, uninhibited — that his commercial output rarely required of him. Ships flat, protected in rigid mailer with archival sleeve and stiffeners.
