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View full screen - View 1 of Lot 431. Portrait of an Opium Smoker.

Jean Cocteau

Portrait of an Opium Smoker

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Lot Closed

September 30, 05:31 PM GMT

Estimate

3,000 - 5,000 USD

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Lot Details

Description

Jean Cocteau

1889 - 1963


Portrait of an Opium Smoker

title-page and preliminary leaf of Opium, with an original drawing of a man holding an opium pipe

inscribed à Jeannot/ce souvenir/du mandarin/de Montargis/Jean

ink on paper

7 ⅞ by 10 ¼ in.

20 by 26 cm.


The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by Annie Guédras.

Arts Talents Enchères, Brussels, lot 100

Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

An evocative presentation leaf from Opium: Journal d’une désintoxication (1930), Cocteau’s raw account of his struggle to recover from addiction. For Cocteau, opium was both torment and muse: “The drawings done under the influence of opium are a marvel” (Emboden, 36). This fluid line drawing depicts a man reclining across the page and exhaling smoke. The phrase “du mandarin de Montargis” adds a characteristically surreal and playful twist.

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