Valentine Penrose - Dons des féminines [collages Préf. de Paul Eluard] - 1951

Valentine Penrose. Gifts of Women

Bookstore 'Les Pas Perdus', Paris, 1951, octavo (33.8 x 26 cm), 66 pages, full cloth binding with an illustrated pastedown on the front cover, leather title piece on the spine, covers preserved.

Preface by Paul Eluard.

Illustrated story with 27 collages by Valentine Penrose outside the text, and 21 within the text. Text in French with its translation in English.

Original edition printed in 400 copies, one of 350 numbered copies on high-quality paper.

Very good condition for the volume, a clear halo on the second cover, minor signs of use, interior in excellent condition.

Rare original edition.


Dons des féminines is a hybrid collection published in 1951 by the French surrealist writer and artist Valentine Penrose, which includes 24 short poems accompanied by 27 black-and-white collages, as well as an etching by Pablo Picasso in the first limited edition of 50 numbered copies.
This book, considered a fully surrealist work, tells the story of two women, Maria Elona and Rubia, who escape heteronormative standards by embarking on an exotic journey through dreamlike and perilous landscapes, such as dizzying mountains, dense jungles, or battlefields, in order to fully live their lesbian love.
This choice of symbolic exotism serves to free the heroines from the constraints associated with the heteronormative woman model.

Collages, created from materials sourced from scientific journals and fashion magazines of the 19th century, depict scenes where gender identities hybridize, featuring female figures in masculine attire and fantastical creatures, such as a golden insect with two human legs, disrupting familiar reality.
This text/image device, where each poem in French is followed by its English translation and a collage, draws inspiration from Max Ernst's techniques, notably from his work One Week of Bonté, but constitutes a feminist and feminine rewriting of these narrative strategies.
Doris Eibl points out that this collection can be seen as a response to the 'often violent erotic fantasies' of Ernst's collages, by adopting surrealist techniques to highlight feminine visions.

The work is rooted in a Sapphic tradition, referencing the island of Lesbos, a symbol of lesbian sexuality, and inspired by figures such as Renée Vivien or Natalie Barney.
Penrose's personal inspiration is also evident: she traveled to India in 1936 with the artist Alice Rahon, a romantic relationship that likely influenced the creation of the story.
Paul Éluard signed the preface of the book, praising the 'wonderful and learned writing' and the 'naive objectivity' of the collages.
The work, published by the Les Pas Perdus bookstore in Paris, is an emblematic example of collage writing, characterized by rapid and unexpected associations, inversions, and visual hallucinations.