Une semaine de bonté

Une semaine de bonté is a groundbreaking 1934 collage novel by surrealist artist Max Ernst, consisting of 182 images created from Victorian-era illustrations and encyclopedias. The work was produced in just three weeks during Ernst's visit to Italy in 1933, using source material from 19th-century publications including Jules Mary's Les damnées de Paris. The book was initially released as five limited-edition pamphlets in Paris, with only 816 copies of each printed. It remained relatively inaccessible to the public until 1976, when Dover Publications released it as a single volume with English translations. The original collages were kept private by Ernst for most of his life, with only one complete public exhibition at Madrid's Museo Nacional de Arte Moderno in 1936. The work stands as a pivotal example of early 20th-century experimental art, exploring themes of Victorian society, human nature, and the subconscious through its transformed imagery.

Readers describe the book as haunting, dreamlike collages that blur the line between beauty and horror. The surreal Victorian imagery creates an unsettling narrative that many find difficult to interpret but visually compelling. What readers liked: - Intricate details in the collages - Gothic atmosphere and dark humor - Freedom to develop personal interpretations - Quality of reproductions in modern editions What readers disliked: - Lack of clear narrative structure - Price of newer editions - Some found it pretentious or needlessly obscure - Disturbing imagery, especially violence against women Ratings: Goodreads: 4.27/5 (500+ ratings) Amazon: 4.5/5 (50+ ratings) "Like walking through someone else's nightmare in slow motion" - Goodreads reviewer "Beautiful but deeply unsettling...not for everyone" - Amazon reviewer "The collages demand repeated viewing to catch all the hidden elements" - LibraryThing review

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🔹 Max Ernst created all 182 collages for "Une semaine de bonté" in just three weeks while staying at an Italian villa in Vigoleno during 1933, showing remarkable creative intensity and focus. 🔹 The book's title translates to "A Week of Kindness," but it actually serves as an ironic commentary, presenting disturbing and often violent imagery that subverts traditional notions of kindness. 🔹 Each day/chapter is associated with specific elements: Sunday with mud, Monday with water, Tuesday with fire, Wednesday with blood, Thursday with blackness, Friday with sight, and Saturday with the unknown. 🔹 The Victorian illustrations used in the collages came primarily from old scientific journals, popular novels, and natural history magazines, which Ernst collected obsessively from Parisian bookstalls. 🔹 When first published in 1934, the book was released as five separate volumes in a limited edition of 816 copies, making original editions extremely rare and valuable in the art collecting world.