Bidspirit auction | SZYK, ARTHUR. Flaubert, Gustave. La

SZYK, ARTHUR. Flaubert, Gustave. La Tentation de Saint Antoine [“The Temptation of Saint Anthony.”] One of 250 numbered copies. With 20 pochoir illustrations by Szyk. Uncut and unopened. Original printed stiff wrappers encased in loose marbled cover. 4to. Paris, Societe d'Editions et de Librarie Henri Reynaud, 1926. The Temptation of St. Anthony, written by Gustave Flaubert, is a story originally inspired by a painting at the Balbi Palace in Genoa. Szyk's style of illustrations here, abstract, dreamy, and contemplative, relate beautifully to the subject of the work, St. Anthony, who was considered to be the father of the Ascetic movement of early Christianity. Szyk's illustrations for the book were produced through a painstaking process known as “pochoir, ” a technique which uses multiple stencils to add each color within the image.  See J.P. Ansell, Arthur Szyk: Artist, Jew, Pole (2004) p. 46.