In search for a portrait of Lautréamont

Michaux, Henri, Belgian-French poet, writer, and painter (1899-1984). 1 autograph letter signed and 1 autograph letter monogrammed.

€ 280,00

Two curious letters concerning Michaux's search for a portrait of Lautréamont in Argentina. In the necessarily earlier letter, written on stationery of a hotel in Buenos Aires, Michaux informs the unidentified recipient that the purported portrait belongs to a political exile in Argentina who is, however, absent until March, while he will already have to return to France in February. He also mentions two texts of his for publication in the Nouvelle Revue française or the Mercure and two current writing projects: "Le portrait de Lautréamont, chez un exilé politique en Argentine, absent jusqu'en Mars. Ensuite [...] - Ai écrit peu de chose en effet. Voici 2 autres textes qui doivent paraitre la N.R.F. ou à Mercure. Je fais 2 contes, l'un assez libertin, l'autre non, dont je ne sais trop que penser. Il me faudra votre opinion. Je viens début février Marseille".

The second letter, on stationery of a Paris hotel and addressed to the obstetrician Henri Paucot, is to announce his return and includes the same information concerning the portrait: "Revenu hélas sans le portrait de Lautréamont. Il faut attendre jusqu'en Mars. Voulez-vous me téléphoner [...]".

Henri Michaux was first inspired to write following the discovery of the poetry of Isidore Ducasse, better known as Lautréamont, by the Surrealists around 1920. In 1936, Michaux and his friend, the poet Jules Supervielle, travelled to Uruguay and Argentina to attend a congress of the International PEN Club, which was probably also the occasion for him to look for the "portrait of Lautréamont", who had spent his childhood in Montevideo. The portrait never materialized: the only image of the poet that is considered possibly authentic is a 1867 photograph from a studio in Tarbes, France.

There is no documented connection between Henri Michaux and Henri Paucot beyond the letter at hand. Michaux might have met Paucot during his brief studies in medicine in 1919/20.

Well preserved.