Presented to the Curator of the Petit Palais
BIRNBAUM, Martin. Introductions. Painters Sculptors and Graphic Artists. New York: Frederic Fairchild Sherman. 1919.
8vo. Original green cloth-backed boards, gilt lettering in panel to upper board, gilt lettering-piece to spine; pp. 137, [1], 30 plates; very good; presentation inscription to title ‘A Mons. Henry Lapauze | with my gratitude and regard | Martin Birnbaum | July 1921’ (see below).
First edition, limited to 500 copies, of this survey of the lives and works of fourteen noted designers including Aubrey Beardsley, this copy presented by the author to Henry Lapauze, art critic, collector, and head curator of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
Born Charles Lafause (1867–1925), Lapause was a noted collector of Ingres and was instrumental in expanding the collections of the newly established museum of fine art at the Petit Palais. He played a key role in establishing the core collection of the Musée de l’Estampe moderne (Museum of Modern Prints) within the Petit Palais in 1908, obtaining over three thousand prints in a matter of months by soliciting donations from artists, dealers, and collectors, including Théophile Steinlen, Henri Béraldi, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
Martin Birnbaum was not only an art critic and dealer but also a highly skilled amateur violinist, hence his doodle. His essay on Beardsley is here ‘reprinted in slightly different form’ (Samuels Lasner) from his 1911 Aubrey Vincent Beardsley; Introductions also features pieces on Leon Bakst, Edmund Dulac, and Kay Nielsen, amongst others.
See Samuels Lasner 155, note.
SKU: 2125418