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Lot 13*,AR

JEAN COCTEAU
(1889-1963)
Érotique - Étude pour une illustration de Querelle de Brest (by Jean Genet), circa 1946-1947

30 June 2021, 16:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £9,562.50 inc. premium

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JEAN COCTEAU (1889-1963)

Érotique - Étude pour une illustration de Querelle de Brest (by Jean Genet), circa 1946-1947
pencil on paper
27 x 20.5 cm.
10 5/8 x 8 1/16 in.

Footnotes

The authenticity of this work has kindly been confirmed by Annie Guédras and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity numbered 6255 E.

Provenance
Jean Genet Collection, France
Hubert de Saint-Senoch Collection (a gift from the above in 1947)
Acquired from the above by the present owner

This work is very close to the original drawing illustrated at page 47 of the novel Querelle de Brest by Jean Genet. The book included 29 erotic illustrations by Jean Cocteau and was clandestinely published by Paul Morihien. With its explicit homoerotic illustrations by Cocteau, the book was prosecuted for affront to public decency in 1954, but later cleared on procedural grounds. This novel presented the depraved actions of the attractive bisexual sailor, thief, traitor, drug dealer, and murderer Georges (Jo) Querelle in the port city of Brest.

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