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Oswaldo Wirth

Notes by André Breton for Arcane 17

Manuscript

Author

Author André Breton
Person cited Oswald Wirth

Description

André Breton's handwritten manuscript in preparation for Arcane 17; pencil, undated, unsigned.

Research on astrology and esoterism. Arcane 17 bears witness to the continuing emergence of a body of knowledge into which Breton intently initiated himself. Here he browses the pages of the Illuminist Antoine Court de Gebelin, a fervent advocate of the idea of an original universal language who also sought to interpret the symbols of the Tarot. The central figures of the star and the woman [in the seventeenth Arcanum], of Isis of whom Mélusine is a reflection, appear here in all their learned nudity, before alchemy would restore them to literature. [Atelier André Breton website, 2005].

Handwritten text, undated [1944?]
- 1 in-4° page, ‘Oswald Wirth’, handwritten text written in pencil by André Breton about the book Le Tarot des imagiers du Moyen-Âge.
‘She is a sweet goddess, as beautiful as the naked girl in the 17th Arcanum as she kneels by a lake into which she pours the contents of a golden urn…”
Arcane 17 was also inspired by Court de Gebelin. (La Pléiade, volume III, note, page 1189). [Auction catalogue, 2003]

Translated by Krzysztof Fijalkowski

Creation datesd
Bibliographical material

1 page in-4°

Date of publication 1944
LanguagesFrench
Physical descriptionMs - crayon
Library

Bibliothèque littéraire Jacques Doucet, Paris : BRT 99

Breton Auction, 2003Lot 2557
Keywords, ,
CategoriesArchives, Andre Breton's Manuscripts
Set[AB's Manuscripts] L'Amour fou, Arcane 17, Les Vases communicants,
Permanent linkhttps://www.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100356800

See also

1 Work
 
False

Court de Gébelin

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André Breton

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Autograph manuscript in black pencil with a drawing depicting the Arcane 17, undated, unsigned.

[AB's Manuscripts] L'Amour fou, Arcane 17, Les Vases communicants,