LOUIS MARCOUSSIS (1883-1941)
(Ludwik Kazimierz Wladyslaw Markus)
1878 or 1883 Łódź, Poland – 1941, Cusset, France
(Polish/French)

Title: The Balcony (Drawing for Plate I, Planches de Salut), 1930

Technique: Original Hand Signed and Dated Drawing in Pencil on paper laid on vellum paper

Paper size: 30.8 x 40.3 cm / 12.1 x 15.8 in

Image size: 18 x 23.2 cm / 7.1 x 9.2 in

Additional Information: This drawing is Hand Signed “Marcoussis” in the lower left corner.
It is Hand dated next to the signature “1930”.
It is a preparatory drawing for plate I of Planches de Salut, a book of 13 etchings published by Jeanne Bucher and printed by Lacourière, Paris, 1931.
It is inspired by Charles Baudelaire's poem "The Balcony", from his famous collections of poems, Fleurs du Mal.
Line 16 from this poem "The night was growing dense like an encircling wall", appears in the pge preceeding the etching in the portfolio.


Note: Marcoussis took up printmaking again at the beginning of the 1930s.
In Planches de Salut, with an introduction by Tristan Tzara, Marcoussis pays homage to his favorite writers, such as Baudelaire, Dostoevski, Rimbaud, Shakespeare, and Gerard de Nerval.
The term 'planche de salut' is slang for 'long plank to salvation'.

Literature: Milet, Solange. Louis Marcoussis: Catalogue raisonne de l'oeuvre grave. Copenhague: Forlaget Cordelia, 1991
Reference: Milet 67

Condition: Very good condition. Some minor foxing mainly in the margins.