ARTAUD Antonin. - Lot 36

ARTAUD Antonin. ROUDOUDOU'S WIFE. ORIGINAL SINGLE PHOTOGRAPH. [Rodez], [1943]. 18 x 12.5 cm. Unique photograph, vintage silver print representing the ephemeral object erected by ARTAUD and made in October 1943 in the garden of the psychiatric hospital in Rodez where he was interned. Doctor Ferdière tried to raise awareness among his patients with nursery rhymes such as La Femme de Roudoudou: "Roudoudou doesn't have a wife/he makes one with his cane/and dresses her in a cabbage leaf/that's Roudoudou's wife." Artaud's ephemeral object is a cane planted on the garden floor. In "Les nouveaux écrits de Rodez", published by Gallimard, collection l'Imaginaire, in 1977, we find a letter from Artaud to Ferdière, dated October 18, 1943: "Roudoudou's song is innocent on the surface, but deep down it's not innocent at all. I can see quite clearly the idea of primitive onanism that lies behind these lyrics." For Artaud, children are born in cabbages, and the cabbage represents the female sex. It was from this nursery rhyme that Artaud created this astonishing object. On the back of the photograph are two autograph notes by Anne Ferdière: Photographie prise dans le jardin de l'hôpital psychiatrique deRodez durant le séjour d'Antonin Artaud qui était soigné par mon père le docteur Ferdière. Artaud's ephemeral object is known as La Femme à Roudoudou. Only a photograph of it now exists. A.F. 13 4 97. One of a kind!