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Surrealist Manifesto from the library of René Magritte

(MAGRITTE, RENÉ.) [Mesens, E. L. T. and Jacques Brunius. Idolatry & Confusion

London Gallery Editions, [1944]

4pp. Separated at horizontal fold, edgewear.

FIRST EDITION. Inscribed to René Magritte: “A René Magritte, ces textes mal informés en 1944, écrit en hâte, mais prophétiques. E. L. T. Mesens.” This scarce English Surrealist tract attacks the so-called resistance poetry of Paul Eluard and Aragon as “conformist.”

Mesens was Magritte’s longtime friend and promoter. An artist and dealer, he was instrumental in promoting Surrealism in Belgium and then in England, where he introduced the Magritte’s work. He organized the first surrealist exhibition in Belgium (1934) and the International Surrealist Exhibition (1936). Later he presented the first major Magritte retrospective (Brussels, 1954).

$1,700