JEAN COCTEAU

(1889-1963)

Visage

Footnotes

signed and dated 'Jean Cocteau 1947' (lower right), signed 'Ascher' (lower left)
screenprinted silk-crêpe. Executed in 1947, from an unknow edition.

Provenance
Acquis auprès des archives Zika Ascher par l'actuel propriétaire

Litterature
Mendes, Valerie D. and Hinchcliffe, Frances, Ascher:Fabric.Art.Fashion, Victoria & Albert Museum, 1987, page 81.


During 1946-1947 the celebrated fabric designer Zika Ascher collaborated with numerous artists on his so-called Artist Squares Collection with the intention of them being used as either artworks to hang on the wall or scarves. Prominent artists of the time contributed, including Calder, Derain, Dominguez, Laurencin, Matisse, Moore, Nicholson.

Ascher initially intended for there to be editions of the scarves (all, not just Cocteau) ranging from 2 to 600, with the screens then being destroyed, but in reality not that many were completed in their entirety and not all were numbered.
One of the reasons we expect they weren't completed or were produced unnumbered is that, back in the day, did not do as well as expected commercially – though this is perhaps unsurprising post-war.

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