Victor Brauner's Writings and Correspondence 1938-1948 Published

Éditions Centre Pompidou/INHA have published 'Victor Brauner: Écrits et correspondances, 1938-1948', a collection of the surrealist artist's personal and professional correspondence and intimate notebooks. The archive, acquired by public collections in 1986, spans the most difficult yet productive period of Brauner's life. In 1938, Brauner moved to Paris; as a Jew, he had to evade Vichy and Nazi persecution during the Occupation, often living clandestinely. In 1948, despite being a prominent surrealist, he was expelled from the movement by André Breton, ending a fifteen-year collaboration. Brauner wrote to Breton of 'a huge petrified giant cloud darkening the sky of friendship at heart', yet still called him his 'essential friend' and 'limitless admirer'. The collection highlights Brauner's strong bonds with René Char and Yves Tanguy (who 'forgot' Brauner between 1939 and 1945 while in the US), and the difficulty of an artist's life in Paris despite artistic abundance. The volume concludes with a letter from Marcel Duchamp to Brauner, dated July 18, 1947, from New York, commenting on surrealism: 'Criticism in general finds us very old but hates us like the young. Let it last.' The book is edited by Paul Ardenne.