Élie Lascaux was a magical, whimsical

artist, in a class of his own - discovered

by the poet Max Jacob; backed by

the cubist art-dealer Daniel-Henry

Kahnweiler; celebrated by his literary

friends Antonin Artaud, Raymond

Queneau, Gertrude Stein, and Jean

Cocteau; esteemed by his artist

friends Suzanne Valadon, Juan Gris,

and Fernand Léger; encouraged

by Pablo Picasso who collected his work

throughout his lifetime; and deemed

a pillar of both the elite "Boulogne set"

of the 1920s and the group of

intellectuals who gathered in the

Limousin region during World War II.

Forty years after his death, this is

the first monograph devoted to the

great artist. Through his illustrated

memoirs - presented here in addition

to his canvases and his decorative

work on objects and furniture - he

became the storyteller of his own

life and times. At once a delighted

spectator and an actor at center stage

in a fascinating tale, we discover that

he was not only a painter among poets,

but a painter of poetry.