PICASSO. EXPOSITION A KNOKKE LE ZOUTE. MELLY'S COPY FROM MESENS

DEDICATED TO MELLY BY MESENS - THE ORIGINAL COPY OF THIS CATALOGUE MENTIONED BY MELLY IN HIS BIOGRAPHY OF MESENS ("DON'T TELL SYBIL")

(Mesens, ELT)
Picasso
PICASSO. - EXPOSITION A KNOKKE LE ZOUTE ALBERT PLAGE, GRANDE SALLE DES EXPOSITIONS DE "LA RESERVE", 15 JUILLET - 27 AOÛT 1950
Bruxelles, La Connaissance, 1950
24,5 x 18,5 cm, 24pp. Wrappers. The exhibition catalogue created by Mesens as part of a short series of exhibitions in the KLZ casino following the failure of the London Gallery. The Picasso exhibition (which borrowed greatly from Roland Penrose's own collection despite his personal antipathy to Mesens) was deemed a great success. The recently deceased George Melly was Mesens' assistant during this exhibition hanging the works, drinking to excess and playing lots of tennis with a young man he had a crush on. Melly felt Mesens had ignored his labours and had not given him sufficient reward for his hard work - the latter merely giving Melly a signed and dedicated catalogue for the show. This copy of this catalogue is the very example described by Melly in his biography of Mesens and has a signed dedication by Mesens in red ink on the green end papers thanking Melly. Sixteen b/w illustrations after works by Picasso and sixty works noted in detail as being exhibited. There are tears along the spine folds and minor paper loss top and bottom of the spine, the wrappers are minorly browned but otherwise this is a very good example and an important association copy. Scarce. Melly died recently and his last months were seemingly faced with good humour and significant bravery and a refusal to turn to religion for hope and succour. To have a life as full of interest and fun and significance as Melly's is to our small opinion as good as one could hope for. A true surrealist.