In his house in Milly-la-Forêt, where he lived from 1947 until his death in 1963, Jean Cocteau created some of his greatest works. Towards the end of his life, he gathered there many works on paper, either by his own hand or by close artists as prestigious as Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, and Marie Laurencin. Most of this exceptional studio collection, comprising several hundred drawings—many dating back to his early years—has now joined the collections of the Centre Pompidou.The catalogue published on this occasion, which accompanies the presentation of these drawings at the Maison Jean Cocteau in Milly-la-Forêt, offers a deep dive into the world of this great poet who was also a remarkable creator of forms. Bringing together youthful sketches, press caricatures, illustrations for magazines or his own writings, as well as self-portraits and portraits of those close to him, it is a largely unpublished body of work evoking both intimate life and the world of performance that these pages invite us to discover.Condition: some slight wear to original publisher’s belly-band
