"Everything is being prepared for the International Surrealism Exhibition, which will open on December 3 at the Daniel Cordier Gallery. The theme of this exhibition will be eroticism."
1.400€
André Breton (1896.1966)
Autograph letter signed to Pierre Dhainaut.
One ½ in-4° page. Autograph envelope.
St Cirq. July 17, 1959.
André Breton announces the next international exhibition of surrealism to the young poet Pierre Dhainaut.
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Dear Pierre Dhainaut, You are one of us. That sums up everything your letter prompts me to tell you. We must see each other very soon, we must get to know you and our friends, we must talk, we must collaborate with you.
This is not, no doubt, what will remove the two threats you expose to me, but I do hope that it will be of a nature to reduce them. One of my good friends, José Pierre, is a professor in Le Havre. For a long time I dreaded this position for him, but after the time he struggled with it (a year or two), I had the good fortune to note that he dominated it, without anything being altered in him. What reassures me, moreover, about you, is that the reprieve protects you for two years, at the end of which it is not forbidden to hope that the Algerian war will have ended, which will at least attenuate the prejudices you share with me, significantly alleviate the case of conscience. The best resource, from there, has always seemed to me to be to let oneself float during the entire length of the ordeal. This is what I have seen several of our young friends achieve (I have also applied this system to myself as much as possible, but it goes without saying that wars are a great obstacle to this). I do not believe that the flame you are talking about can be at the mercy of this.
Do you often pass through Paris? I'll be there again starting September 5th, busy preparing for the international exhibition of surrealism, which will open on December 3rd at the Daniel Cordier gallery. The theme of this exhibition will be eroticism. I very much hope that you will collaborate on the catalog. Please accept, dear Pierre Dhainaut, my sincere friendship. André Breton."
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The International Exhibition of Surrealism, EROS, organized by André Breton and Marcel Duchamp was held at the Galerie Daniel Cordier during the winter of 1959-60.
Pierre Dhainaut (1935-) met André Breton in 1959. After being influenced by surrealism, he published his first book, Le poème débuté and gradually turned to poetry inspired by his growing interest in the history of religions and spiritualities.
He received the Jean Arp Francophone Literature Prize in 2010 and the Guillaume Apollinaire Prize in 2016.