APOLLINAIRE, Guillaume. [Méditations Esthétiques.] Les Peintres Cubistes.

From the library of an artist

APOLLINAIRE, Guillaume. [Méditations Esthétiques.] Les Peintres Cubistes. Paris: Eugène Figuière et Cie, Éditeurs. 1913.

Small 4to. Original yellow wrappers, titles in black to covers and spine, with early glassine; pp. 84, with 45 plates as called for (46 are inaccurately advertised); some minor spotting, wrappers slightly soiled and creased, with tears to edges, but generally very good; pencil ownership inscription of Alice Thevin to front cover and her pencil annotations and underlining throughout (see below).

First edition of this groundbreaking and richly illustrated text on Cubism, from the library of the French-born artist Alice Thevin (1862-1937).

The poet, playwright, writer, and critic Guillaume Apollinaire played a pivotal role in the French avant-garde movement. He is credited with coining the term ‘cubism’ in his preface to the catalogue for the Indépendants exhibition in Brussels in 1911. In his Les Peintres Cubistes, he was among the first critics to articulate the principles of Cubism.

Les Peintres Cubistes, Méditations Esthétiques was written between 1905-1912 and finally published the following year. It is considered one of the first, and foremost, critical studies on the Cubist movement and this influential treatise was finalised shortly after the original showcase of Cubist art in 1911 in Paris at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris. Les Peintres Cubistes delves into the artistic movement’s aesthetic, origins, and development. The text includes excerpts from Guillaume Apollinaire’s literary journal, Les Soirées de Paris, complemented by 45 black and white photographs of artworks by Picasso, Braques, Duchamp, and several others. It was released as part of the ‘Tous les Arts’ series, overseen by Apollinaire himself.

Provenance: Originally from Paris, Alice Thevin spent much of her life in the US, where she taught art and literature in Boston, Philadelphia, and New York. After her death, her partner Fanny Peabody Mason established a fund in her memory at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

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