Entretien de Fernand Léger avec Blaise Cendrars et Louis Carré sur Le Paysage dans l'Oeuvre de Léger

Paris: Louis Carré, 1956. First Edition.

Small Quarto (10 3/4 x 7 1/2 inches; 275 x 192 mm), 67, [9] pages, sewn into printed wrappers with the original glassine dust jacket and with a "compliments" card laid in from the gallery.

A sumptuous catalogue for an exhibition of Fernand Léger's landscape paintings at Galerie Louis Carré in Paris from November 19 to December 31, 1954. One of 750 copies printed on Vélin d'Arches by Coulouma and Mourlot Frères in Paris.

The catalogue contains 6 lithographs in color -- including two double-page spreads -- as well as illustrations in ink throughout. There's also the text of a three-way conversation between Léger, the poet Blaise Cendrars, and gallery owner Louis Carré, in which they talk about the works in the exhibition, which span the years 1905-1953. Léger and Cendrars were old friends and had collaborated on a book, Paris ma ville, a love letter to the city of Paris.

Also featured: a list of the works shown in the exhibition, a preface by Cendrars, and a facsimile of a statement by Cendrars on the importance of the conversation with Léger. All contents in French.

Léger, Cendrars, et Carré recorded their conversation on October 27, 1954, shortly before the opening of the exhibition. But the catalogue was not issued in time for the exhibition. In fact, it wasn't published until 1956, following Léger's death in 1955.

A fabulously illustrated catalogue of works by Fernand Léger, increasingly scarce in commerce.

CONDITION: A few small nicks to the edges of the original glassine dust jacket but the contents are bright and fresh. A Near Fine copy.