ESTIENNE (Charles). Abstract Art. 12 original lithographs. Paris: “Opéra,” [1946]. — In-4, 325 x 247: (30 ff.), printed cover. Loose-leaf. A rare bilingual (French-English) first edition of this album, with a preface by Charles Estienne, comprising 12 original lithographs numbered and signed by Aimé Félix DEL MARLE (1889–1952), Jean DEWASNE (1921–1999), Jean DEYROLLE (1911–1967), César DOMELA (1900–1992), Ernst ENGEL-PAK (1885–1965), Adolf FLEISCHMANN (1892–1968), Hans HARTUNG (1904–1989), Misztrik DE MONDA, Serge POLIAKOFF (1900–1969), Marie RAYMOND (1908–1989), Gérard SCHNEIDER (1896–1986), and Nicolas WARB (1906–1957). “From February through July 1946, a series of exhibitions devoted to abstract art were held in Paris on Rue Cujas. In an open-concept gallery in the heart of the Latin Quarter, thousands of visitors—mostly students—were able to view paintings representing all the trends of this art form, which was still so hotly contested and so little known. Five lectures held in the same venue alongside the exhibitions were devoted to abstract art—its raison d’être, its evolution, its theories, its techniques, and its place in today’s world of the arts, literature, and science. Visitors were able to write down their impressions, reactions, and reflections in a notebook that will be preserved as a fascinating record in which humor, contempt, foolishness, goodwill, understanding, and sympathy coexist. To leave a living record of these events, the painters who participated in these exhibitions created lithographs specifically for the occasion, which make up this album. Each painter also chose, from one of his favorite authors, a passage that seemed particularly fitting to him—one that appeared to provide a justification or explanation for his art, or that, on occasion, might serve as an excellent quip in the heat of a more or less academic discussion” (introductory text). Limited edition of 120 numbered copies on Bellegarde vellum paper (No. 14). Very well-preserved copy.