Double portrait photographique de Francis Ponge

Two original photographic prints signed in blue ink by Mariette Lachaud, mounted onto a sheet of heavy paper. Autograph note by Max Philippe Delatte on the verso: "1951 Photographs taken by Braque's secretary and arranged thus, facing one another, by Braque himself." The adhesive used by Braque has lightened the verso of the sheet and a small besides the first photograph.

A rare double photographic portrait of Francis Ponge, taken in the studio of his friend Georges Braque by Braque's assistant and inscribed by the poet to Max-Philippe Delatte.

Probably taken in Braque's studio at Varengeville, the portraits are the work of Mariette Lachaud, the artist's secretary and photographer of Braque's daily life, creations, and friendships:

"Ponge met [Braque] in March 1945 at the instigation of Jean Paulhan, who had just published Braque, le patron (1945). Ponge held great affection for Braque, whom he admired. The painter became a central figure in his reflection on painting: Ponge wrote nine texts on the painter between 1946 and 1980. He never wrote so extensively about any other artist. Braque was also a theoretical and aesthetic touchstone for Ponge, both as a painter and through his statements and aphorisms, found in Le Cahier de Georges Braque (1948) and Le Jour et la Nuit (1952), a collection gathering Braque's notebooks from 1917 to 1952. A drawing by Braque appears on the cover of Proêmes (1948) and Le Peintre à l'étude (1949). The painter also illustrated Cinq Sapates with five etchings.

Braque le réconciliateur (1946) is the first text Ponge wrote on Braque, in which he explores his "intimate, overall idea" of the painter. He subsequently devoted numerous other texts to him: Braque ou l'art moderne comme évènement et plaisir (1947) and Braque - dessins (1950). In Braque Japon (1952) in particular, Ponge expresses the difficulty of writing about painting, literature and painting remaining at a distance from one another owing to the original divide between verbal matter and pictorial matter. Ponge went on to write Braque lithographe (1963), Braque votif (1964), À propos de Braque (1970), Braque ou un méditatif à l'œuvre (1970), and finally a Bref condensé de notre dette à jamais et re-co-naissance à Braque particulièrement en cet été 80 (1980).

Beyond his reflection on painting, Ponge saw in Braque a "master of living", in whom artistic qualities were also moral qualities." (Société des lecteurs de Francis Ponge)

Max Philippe Delatte was a Parisian bookseller and bibliophile. He had formed a close friendship with Ponge and, in the same year as these portraits, published a Bibliographie sommaire de l'œuvre de Francis Ponge.