ADAMI Valerio RITRATO DI JAMES JOYCE, 1971. Graphite drawing on paper. Signed lower right. 770 x 665 mm. The James Joyce Society, founded in 1947 by T.S Eliot, organised symposia devoted to the relationship between the writer the relationship between the writer and the cities in which he lived. In 1974, Paris was chosen to host the 5th symposium, and the French committee, made up of Maria Jolas and Jacques Aubert, asked Bernard Gheerbrant to organise an exhibition. Gheerbrant turned to Jean-Pierre Seguin, a curator at the Bibliothèque Nationale who was in charge of creating the future B.P.I at the Centre Pompidou, which was still under construction. Having seen in the intentions of Gheerbrant, Maria Jolas and Jacques Aubert, an ideal initiative to become "the first manifestation of what the future Université Libre library wanted to be, at the service of all", he proposed hosting the Joyce Symposium and exhibition at 28 rue des Francs-Bourgeois, where the future services of the art and culture centre were being organised. The premises allocated by the Ministry offered four meeting rooms, a projection booth and an exhibition room measuring 18m by 5m. As at La Hune, Gheerbrant assembled documents mounted on panels, including a map of the European continent marked by the postcards Joyce sent to his Parisian friends, amateur photographs, portraits by Man Ray and Gisèle Freund, portraits drawn by Brancusi, and Adami's portrait of Joyce, reproduced on the exhibition poster. exhibition poster. A copy of the poster is included.