COCTEAU Jean

Lot 40
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Estimation :
15000 - 20000 EUR
Result without fees
Result : 49 000EUR
COCTEAU Jean
Autograph MANUSCRIT, Orpheus, tragedy in one act and one interval, 1925; 81 folio sheets, 63 sheets of a Canson & Montgolfier Sketchbook with detachable sheets, cardboard cover and canvas back (35 x 26 cm) and 18 flying sheets (31 x 21 cm) (the back canvas is a little loose at the bottom). A complete manuscript, the only existing one, of this tragedy in which Cocteau reinvents the myth of Orpheus. Composed at the end of the summer of 1925 in Villefranche-sur-Mer, the tragedy of Orpheus was premiered at the Théâtre des Arts on June 17, 1926 by Georges PITOËFF (to whom the play will be dedicated), in a setting by Jean Hugo and dresses by Coco Chanel (to whom this manuscript belonged). The main roles were played by Georges (Orpheus) and Ludmilla (Eurydice) Pitoëff, Marcel Herrand (Heurtebise), and Mireille Havet (Death). The edition will be published by Stock in 1927. Cocteau returned twice to this myth of Orpheus, for his films Orpheus in 1949 and The Testament of Orpheus in 1959. Cocteau produced his manuscript on a large format detachable sketchbook. Having completed the entire notebook, he wrote the end of the piece on 18 loose sheets of a similar but smaller notebook, writing at the end the date: "Villefranche 24 September 1925". On the cover, in Chinese ink, he calledigraphied the title in large letters in a rounded cartridge. The first two pages are written in pencil; on the first one, Cocteau wrote the title, the list of "Characters", the place: "In Thrace at Orpheus", followed by a description of the decoration (crossed out afterwards). On the 2nd sheet, a new description of the "Décor" is printed in ink, completed by this pencil note: "Superflu nécessaire: very simple room, but grey, black and white. All mouldings (door, frieze, plinth etc.) in trompe l'oeil Italian. White chairs and tables. The draperies around the horse may be pink. Through the window you can see a dark blue sky". On the page opposite, Cocteau drew
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