Cahiers d'Art Information

Cahiers d’Art is one of the world’s most distinguished publishers of the visual arts. We work directly with artists and their estates to create a revue, books, limited edition books and prints, and catalogue raisonnés – each of which is a celebration of the artist’s individual character and vision. Founded in 1926 by Christian Zervos at 14 rue du Dragon in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, ‘Cahiers d’Art’ refers at once to a publishing house, a gallery, and to a revue. Cahiers d’Art was entirely unique: a journal of contemporary art defined by its combination of striking typography and layout, abundant photography, and juxtaposition of ancient and modern art. The early days of Cahiers d’Art coincided with the advent of the Bauhaus, Le Corbusier, of Klee and Kandinsky, and with Zervos’s exploration of primitive art and Cycladic archaeology. From 1930 until the outbreak of WWII, the journal concentrated on the work of Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Léger, Ernst, Arp, Calder and Giacometti, amongst others. By 1932, Cahiers d’Art had published the first volume of the Picasso Catalogue, a project that would become a life’s work, prepared by Zervos together with Picasso. Artist collaborations with Cahiers d’Art often yielded original artwork. Joan Miró’s 1934 pochoirs and his Aidez L’Espagne, produced in 1937, and Marcel Duchamp’s Fluttering Heart of 1936, perhaps the world’s first example of kinetic art, are some of the most iconic images ever produced by these two artists. Christian and Yvonne Zervos organized between two and five exhibitions per year between 1932 and 1970 at the Cahiers d’Art gallery space. By 1960, Zervos had published ninety-seven issues of the Cahiers d’Art revue and more than fifty books, including monographs on El Greco, Matisse, Man Ray, and African and Mesopotamian Art. Zervos’s work on the Picasso Catalogue continued from 1932 until his death in Paris in 1970. These 33 volumes have since become the definitive reference for Picasso’s work.