92. 92AR Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) Sketchbook Circa 1926 Carnet de croquis contenant environ 23 pages de notes autographes et environ 15 dessins, au crayon et à l'encre, sur 31 feuilles, cartons gris à dos de toile, couverture supérieure avec les armoiries imprimées du fabricant Canson & Montgolfier et les mots 'Carnet croquis', coins inférieurs bosselés, folio Schetsboek met circa 23 pagina's autografe aantekeningen en circa 15 tekeningen, potlood en inkt, op 31 bladen, linnen gebonden grijs bord, bovenzijde met gedrukt wapenschild van de fabrikant Canson & Montgolfier en opschrift 'Carnet croquis', onderste hoeken gestoten, folio Sketchbook containing approximately 23 pages of autograph notes and approximately 15 drawings, pencil and ink, on 31 leaves, cloth-backed grey boards, upper cover with printed coat of arms of the manufacturer Canson & Montgolfier and words 'Carnet croquis', lower corners bumped, folio Provenance Lucienne Watier archives; remained in his descendants A sketchbook from one of Cocteau's most productive periods. At this time Orphée was being staged in Paris, he had an exhibition of artistic 'constructions', and Stravinsky's Oedipus rex with its Cocteau libretto would soon be premiered - all whilst he was suffering from an opium addiction The upper cover bears Cocteau's sketch of a book cover entitled "Opéra - travail poétique de 1925-1926", whilst the notes inside include: apparent drafts of his poem 'L'Hôtel'; notes for 'Les Voleurs d'enfants' and 'Le Paquet rouge'; prose comments on the Revolution, Robespierre and the Ancien régime; his famous quip "Victor Hugo était un fou qui se croyait Victor Hugo"; "Etonnante découverte de Lord Carnaval"; mentions of Oscar Wilde, Picasso, Stravinsky, Rimbaud, and other subjects. Several of the poems present here were published as part of Cocteau's collection Opéra, oeuvres poétiques 1925-1927, in 1927 Also within the sketchbook are various drawings: a surreal neoclassical bust juxtaposed with cyclopic heads, a decapitated male nude (possibly John the Baptist with multiple Salomes), skeletons, a semi-clad figure holding an object at arm's length, several partial interiors (probably set designs), sailors alongside urinals, and two dissected figures labelled "Les Atrides"