André BRETON. Autograph manuscript, [1957]; 1 oblong page in-8 with erasures and corrections. Draft of a paragraph from Deux enquêtes surréalistes, a text that appeared in No. 2 of the quarterly magazine Le Surréalisme, même (Spring 1957), announcing investigations of a painting by Gabriel Max and an anonymous painting. "Fortunately, the current vogue for so-called "non-figurative" painting does not obviate the need to scrutinize even the "extra-pictorial" intentions that may have animated a particular master of the past: a Jerome Bosch, a Giorgione, a Goya. There's nothing to stop us extending this curiosity to lesser-known artists whenever the opportunity arises. We present here a painting which André Breton tells us "stopped" him several weeks ago, at the "Vernaison" market in St Ouen, and since then to the point where he has had to return to examine it several times. The author of this undated work, Gabriel Max, who was born in Prague in 1840 (and died, we believe, in 1915), enjoyed evoking horrific subjects or striking the imagination with singularity and weirdness. The reproduction of his "Face du Christ sur le suaire de Ste Véronique" (Face of Christ on the Shroud of St. Veronica), which seems to open its eyes when you look at it for a while (1874), was very popular in Paris... "From sentimental mysticism, Max later moved on to spiritism, hypnotism and diabolical reveries". The fiftieth anniversary of the death of the author of Là-bas [Huysmans] (whose prestige with the Surrealists is well known) would be enough to bring Gabriel Max out of the shadows and call for discussion of this enigmatic work"... Breton has crossed out his last sentence, which names a poet friend: "It has just been acquired by Mrs. Joyce Mansour".