Bram van Velde - Le Carnet de Bayonne - 1974

This very special collector’s item has a sad origin. In 1938 Bram van Velde (1895-1981) spent four weeks in prison in the Bayonne jail in the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques. The reason was that he had not renewed his residence permit. This event haunted the artist for life. Bram van Velde was born in the Netherlands. Before the artist began working in France (Paris) from 1925, he stayed two years (1922-1923) in the German artists’ colony Worpswede. At first, Bram van Velde mainly absorbed the influence of Edvard Munch and Henri Matisse. In France, a very gradual personal style emerged. The artist was influenced by COBRA, abstract expressionism, and Informal Art. But above all Bram van Velde was an individualist who did not receive major international recognition until the seventies and eighties. This special edition is a numbered (no 34) and signed facsimile of seven drawings that Bram van Velde made in the Bayonne prison, when he was in great despair. The drawings are extraordinarily interesting because they mark the transition from figurative to abstract work. The drawings are superbly reproduced on seven double pages of lightly tinted paper. They have always been well preserved in a cream-colored, very sturdy, narrow case. This case shows minimal damage. Both all the drawings and the case have been photographed. The publisher is Yves Rivière, who has published much work by artists to a high standard, and guarantees optimal quality. The book is offered by the Dutch artist, author, and former general practitioner Ignace Schretlen, who dedicated a poem to Bram van Velde in the bibliophilic edition ‘De Aarde te Voet’ (poems and small original works) of the former Nijmegen publisher ‘Verzameld Werk.’ The edition is well packed and sent by a registered mail (with insurance). Unfortunately, no shipments to America are possible due to restrictions of the American president.