BALTHUS. Lot n° 1285

Mitsou: forty images by Baltusz. Preface by Rainer Maria Rilke. Erlenbach-Zürich, Leipzig, Rotapfel, [1921]. In-8 [246 x 190] of 13 pp, (1) f., 40 plates : publisher's softback, in beige dust jacket. FIRST EDITION: FORTY COMPOSITIONS BY THE PAINTER BALTHUS, PRECEDED BY A PREFACE BY RAINER MARIA RILKE. Famous book, the first illustrated by the artist who was only 13 years old at the time. The painter Balthus tells the story of Mitsou, a cat he had taken in, then lost. Autograph letter from Rainer Maria Rilke on the preliminary page: Herrn Dr. G. F. Hartlaub // in aufmerksamer // ein wenig einschlägiger // Erwiderung, // herzlich // R.M. Rilke // Château de Muzot, // (im F ebruar 1922). Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub (1884-1963), art historian and director of the Kunsthale in Mannheim, organized the first exhibition of New Objectivity painters. Small tears at the spine ends of the dust jacket.