František Kupka (1871-1957)

QUATRE HISTOIRES DE BLANC ET NOIR, PRIORITY EDITION

1926
Book format 2°, 33x25,5 cm. A collection of woodcuts by František Kupka in a custom hardcover binding. The cover is bound in, followed by an original woodcut No. 24, individually printed on thin Japanese paper and enhanced with gouache and ink painting, signed by hand. Includes a handwritten dedication by F. Kupka: "Hommage à Mme et Mr Georges Turpin, Puteaux le 20 Septembre 1931." The title page features a variant of the woodcut from the collection’s cover, along with a calligraphic text by František Kupka commenting on the entire set, beginning with "VISIBLEMENT CES HISTOIRES NE SE PASSENT PAS ENTRE FIGURES HUMAINES, AU MILIEU DES ARBRES ..." (Evidently, these stories do not take place among human figures, amid trees...). This is followed by 25 individual woodcuts numbered 2–26, a colophon, a simplified title page variant, a page with typographic text, and another set of 25 unnumbered woodcuts. These are the first states of the engravings. Woodcut No. 2 is bound in at the end for a third time. Published by František Kupka himself in an edition of 300 numbered copies. The deluxe edition, numbered 1–100, included an additional complete set of original states of the engravings. Printed by G. Kadar in Paris in November 1926 on handmade paper J PERRIGOT D’ARCHES (FRANCE). This copy is numbered 30. The custom full-leather artistic binding features embossed cutouts and inscriptions, with a chemise and slipcase, marked on the front pastedown with "L. (Luigi) CASTIGLIONI" and on the back with "VIII-2018." Though this is a later binding of originally loose sheets, it has been executed with great care—none of the sheets are trimmed, each is affixed with a thin strip of paper to an added backing strip, which is then sewn into the binding. If necessary, the binding could be disassembled, restoring the album to its original state. A rare copy of the priority edition containing a double set of engravings, further enhanced by František Kupka’s personal dedication to French poet and critic Georges Turpin and his wife. Additionally, it includes a unique woodcut hand-painted and signed by František Kupka. Very good condition. Quatre Histoires de Blanc et Noir represent a summation of fifteen years of artistic creation and the culmination of the artist`s vision of an ideal book publication. Kupka dedicated two full years to the preparation of this book, during which he created numerous studies distilled into a pure polarity of black and white. In the final version, he included 25 full-page woodcuts (along with two vignettes on the title pages). This retrospective serves as the definitive conclusion to his fifteen years of artistic exploration following his rejection of mimesis, integrating the essential aspects of visual language into the interconnected unity of four stories. Each story, composed of six engravings gathered in a portfolio, is preceded by a title page, a frontispiece, and a significant textual manifesto in which the artist elaborates on his conception of the abstract reality of the artwork. Through woodcuts, Kupka graphically transposes his pictorial universe, presenting a masterfully structured demonstration in four chapters: organic-decorative, triangular, undulating-cosmic, vertical and diagonal. These universes are crystallized across 25 sheets of black-and-white prints. At the same time, the collection can be regarded as a dictionary of Kupka’s formal visual vocabulary.