Femme Complète.
A small folding triptych containing a poem by Mesens and an illustration by Magritte, printed in red ink on stiff pink paper stock. Folds to small quarto (9 1/4 x 7 inches, opens to 9 1/4 x 20 7/8 inches). Light sunning, minor wear along folds, overall very good. Brussels: Editions Nicolas Flamel, 1933. Limited edition of 200 hand-numbered examples numbered and signed by Mesens.
E.L.T. Mesens (1903-1971) was a Belgian Surrealist writer and one of the leaders of the Surrealist movement in Belgium. Mesens owned a gallery where he organized the first surrealist exhibition in Belgium in 1934, and went on to co-organize the London International Surrealist Exhibition in 1936 alongside such notable figures as Henry Moore, André Breton, Paul Éluard, Man Ray, and Salvador Dalí. He then became the director of the London Gallery and chief editor of the London Bulletin, one of the most important English-language Surrealist journals.
This tri-fold features a poem by Mesens titled Femme Complète, and is accompanied by a Surrealist illustration by Magritte of a woman in profile, with her eye represented by the sun, a rose on her cheek, and birds in her hair. Mesens' signature appears by the colophon, along with a note that this copy, no. 143, belonged to A. Rolland de Renéville (1903-1962), a French poet and essayist.
A scarce collaboration between two important figures from the Surrealist movement; as of December 2025, OCLC locates only two holdings of this poem in North American institutional libraries.
Book ID: 53584
Price: $2,250.00