Elie Lascaux

Élie Lascaux was a magical, whimsical artist, in a class of his own - discovered by the poet Max Jacob; backed by the cubist art-dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler; celebrated by his literary friends Antonin Artaud, Raymond Queneau, Gertrude Stein, and Jean Cocteau; esteemed by his artist friends Suzanne Valadon, Juan Gris, and Fernand Léger; encouraged by Pablo Picasso who collected his work throughout his lifetime; and deemed a pillar of both the elite "Boulogne set" of the 1920s and the group of intellectuals who gathered in the Limousin region during World War II.

Forty years after his death, this is the first monograph devoted to the great artist. Through his illustrated memoirs - presented here in addition to his canvases and his decorative work on objects and furniture - he became the storyteller of his own life and times. At once a delighted spectator and an actor at center stage in a fascinating tale, we discover that he was not only a painter among poets, but a painter of poetry.