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Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau, Untitled, from The White Book, 1930
1930

Name: Jean Cocteau, Untitled, from The White Book, 1930
Brand: Jean Cocteau
Price: 2617.29 CHF
Availability: InStock
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About the Item

This exquisite lithograph and pochoir with hand coloring by Jean Cocteau (1889–1963), titled Sans titre (Untitled), from the album Le Livre blanc (The White Book), precede dun frontispice et accompagne de 17 dessins de Jean Cocteau (preceded by a frontispiece and accompanied by 17 drawings by Jean Cocteau), originates from the 1930 edition published by Editions du Signe, Paris, printed by Maitres-Imprimeurs, Ducros et Colas, Paris, and hand colored by M.B. Armington, May 10, 1930. The work reflects Cocteaus mastery of linear elegance and psychological nuance, distilling intimacy, vulnerability, and symbolic clarity into a composition that occupies a pivotal place in early twentieth-century modernism and queer cultural history. Executed as a lithograph and pochoir with hand coloring on velin d'Arches paper, this work measures 11.81 x 9.06 inches. Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. The edition exemplifies the refined craftsmanship of Ducros and Colas, Maitres-Imprimeurs, and the exceptional hand-coloring attributed to M.B. Armington. Artwork Details: Artist: After Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) Title: Sans titre (Untitled), from the album Le Livre blanc (The White Book), precede dun frontispice et accompagne de 17 dessins de Jean Cocteau (preceded by a frontispiece and accompanied by 17 drawings by Jean Cocteau) Year: 1930 Medium: Lithograph and pochoir with hand coloring on velin d'Arches paper Size: 11.81 x 9.06 inches Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued Publisher: Editions du Signe, Paris Printer: Maitres-Imprimeurs, Ducros et Colas, Paris Catalogue Raisonne References: Bezit, Emmanuel. Dictionnaire Critique et Documentaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs. Gründ, 1976, vol. 3, p. 744. Carteret, Leon. Le Tresor du Bibliophile: Livres Illustres Modernes, 1875–1945. Editions Carteret, 1958, vol. 5, p. 51. van der Veen, H. In Liefde Verzameld: Homoseksualiteit en de Nederlandse Literatuur. De Buitenkant, 1992, no. 136. Monod, Luc. Manuel de Lamateur de Livres Illustres Modernes: 1875–1975. Ides Calendes, 1992, no. 2912. Condition: Well preserved, consistent with age and medium Provenance: From the album Le Livre blanc, published by Editions du Signe, Paris; printed by Ducros et Colas, Paris; hand colored by M.B. Armington, May 10, 1930 Notes: Excerpted from the album (translated from French), This album, whose plates have been entirely colored by hand by M.B. Armington, an artist-painter, was completed to print on May 10, 1930, by Ducros and Colas, Maitres-Imprimeurs in Paris. The draw has been limited to: XVIII examples on japon nacre, each containing one of the XVIII original drawings and a suite on Hollande, numbered from I to XVIII; VI examples, H.C., marked from A to F; XVIII examples on japon imperial, numbered from XIX to XXXVI; VI examples, H.C., marked from G to L; CCCLXXX examples on velin d'Arches, numbered from XXXVII to CDXVI; XXII examples, H.C., marked from A to V. About the Publication: Exquisite and foundational within the history of LGBTQ culture, Jean Cocteau’s Le Livre blanc (The White Paper) stands as one of the earliest twentieth century works to give sustained artistic form to same sex desire from the inside, rather than as satire, pathology, or coded subtext. Written and illustrated at a time when open declaration carried real social risk, the work occupies a quiet but radical position: it does not argue, explain, or justify. Instead, it shows. As scholar Frederic Canovas explains, the publication achieves this not only through language but through imagery, using drawing as a second voice that speaks where words hesitate. The artworks included within Le Livre blanc are inseparable from this cultural positioning. Executed in Cocteau’s unmistakable linear style, the drawings present male bodies with a tenderness and directness that was extraordinary for its time. They are spare, intimate, and deliberately unembellished. There is little sense of setting or narrative illustration in the conventional sense. Instead, the figures appear suspended in moments of recognition, vulnerability, and desire. These images are not meant to clarify the text but to echo its emotional truth. They offer presence without spectacle, visibility without sensationalism. A defining characteristic of the drawings is their restraint. Faces are often simplified or turned away, and bodies are rendered with continuous, flowing lines that suggest immediacy and exposure. This visual economy mirrors the guarded tone of the narrative itself. The art participates in a strategy of partial revelation that reflects the lived reality of queer existence in the early twentieth century. The drawings allow Cocteau to assert a homosexual identity visually while maintaining discretion at the level of public authorship, a balance reinforced by the publication’s long standing refusal to name him outright on the cover. One of the most compelling aspects of Le Livre blanc is that its visual identity was never fixed. Across multiple editions issued during Cocteau’s lifetime and after, the number, placement, and technique of the illustrations changed. The publication is a moving object rather than a stable one, with each illustrated tradition recalibrating how openly the subject matter is presented. Some editions rely on delicately hand colored drawings, others on stark woodcut imagery, and still others expand the number of illustrations considerably. This evolution reflects shifting cultural conditions as well as Cocteau’s own changing comfort with visibility. The art, like the text, records a gradual movement from guarded confession toward greater openness. For modern viewers and collectors, the artworks in Le Livre blanc resonate strongly with later developments in LGBTQ visual culture. Their emphasis on the body as a site of identity, their rejection of caricature, and their insistence on emotional authenticity anticipate much later autobiographical and minimalist approaches to queer art. These drawings are not marginal embellishments but core components of the work’s meaning. They transform Le Livre blanc into a landmark where literature and visual art converge to articulate a private truth that would shape queer self representation for generations to come. About the Artist: Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) was a French artist, poet, playwright, filmmaker, and designer whose boundless imagination and multidisciplinary genius made him one of the most influential cultural figures of the twentieth century. Born in Maisons-Laffitte near Paris, Cocteau emerged as a prodigy whose creative energy spanned literature, cinema, theater, music, and the visual arts, reshaping modern creativity through his conviction that beauty, myth, and imagination were universal languages. A central figure of the Parisian avant-garde, he moved among and collaborated with Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Salvador Dali, Joan Miro, Wassily Kandinsky, Marcel Duchamp, and Man Ray—artists who, like Cocteau, were revolutionizing modern thought through bold experimentation. His early collaboration with Picasso and Erik Satie on Parade (1917) for Diaghilevs Ballets Russes signaled a new era of interdisciplinary art, merging music, design, and theater into a total work of imagination. Cocteaus visual art, characterized by fluid line drawings, mythological motifs, and lyrical simplicity, revealed a mastery of composition that blended classical elegance with modern abstraction. His murals for the Chapelle Saint-Pierre in Villefranche-sur-Mer and the Chapelle Saint-Blaise-des-Simples in Milly-la-Foret stand among the great achievements of sacred modern art, balancing spirituality and modernist form with serene clarity. Equally revolutionary were his contributions to literature and film: his novels (Les Enfants Terribles), plays (La Machine Infernale, Les Parents Terribles), and films (La Belle et la Bete, Orphee, Le Testament d'Orphee) established him as one of the founding visionaries of poetic cinema, influencing filmmakers such as Federico Fellini, Jean-Luc Godard, David Lynch, and Guillermo del Toro. In fashion and theater, his collaborations with Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, and Elsa Schiaparelli merged art and couture, expanding his influence beyond the visual and literary arts. His friendship with Jean Marais inspired some of his most intimate works, while his portraits and ceramics revealed a wit and grace that elevated simplicity to transcendence. Cocteaus aesthetic bridged classical myth and modern psychology, dream and reality, light and line—an approach that inspired later artists from Andy Warhol, David Bowie, and Jean-Michel Basquiat to Alexander McQueen and John Galliano. His works are held in major museums including the Centre Pompidou, the Musee Jean Cocteau in Menton, the Tate, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His highest auction record was achieved by Jean Marais dans La Belle et la Bete (1946), which sold for 611,622 USD at Sothebys Paris on October 18, 2023. Keywords: Jean Cocteau Le Livre blanc, Cocteau pochoir, Cocteau lithograph, French modernist print, LGBTQ art history, queer livre d'artiste, velin d'Arches pochoir, Ducros et Colas Paris, Cocteau hand colored prints, rare illustrated albums.

Creator:
Jean Cocteau (French)
Creation Year:
1930
Dimensions:
Height: 11.81 in (30 cm)Width: 9.06 in (23.02 cm)
Medium:
Lithograph,Stencil
Movement Style:
Modern
Period:
1930-1939
Condition:
Gallery Location:
Southampton, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU1465217477402

By Jean Cocteau

Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH

Jean Cocteau White Book - Autobiography about Cocteau's discovery of his homosexuality. The book was first published anonymously and created a scandal. Original Handcolored Lithograp...

Category

1930s Modern Portrait Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau - White Book - Original Handcolored Lithograph, 1930

$1,420

Jean CocteauJean Cocteau, Untitled, from The White Book, 19301930

About the Item

Jean Cocteau

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