Pascin libertin

More than a book, this is a (treasure) chest that is not easy to handle. On the left, an introduction to the work «Watteau des bordels» (Watteau of the brothels), as it was comically described by a commentator at the time, is illustrated by erotic water-colours and wash drawings. The reader quickly learns about the founding elements of Pascin’s (1885-1930) sensuality, from his liaison with a madam in Budapest to the atmosphere of Munich in the 1900s, up to the libertine life in Paris during the Roaring Twenties. To the right, a «reprint» increases the interest of the collection of texts. It is the series of erotic poems, Abécédaire des filles et de l’enfant chéri published anonymously in 1924 by the éditions de la Fanfare de Montparnasse publishing house. Actually Pierre Mac Orlan hides behind these brief and encrypted texts to which Pascin added lascivious images our current standard of morals could not approve of (the characters performing a number of acrobatic movements are shameless children). The afore-mentioned Mac Orlan turned out to be an inconsolable companion when Pascin committed suicide in 1930 as he wrote a Tombeau(Tomb) to pay for the tombstone of Bulgaria’s child prodigy.

•Pascin libertin by Stéphan Lévy-Kuentz, Biro publisher, 2009, 30 €, ISBN : 978-2-35119-053-1