About this artwork
Jean Cocteau’s play—which translates to “The Terrible Parents”—is a satire about a dysfunctional family with inappropriate romantic entanglements. Because of the plot’s dark humor, the first run of the play faced protest and censorship in the polarized French cultural sphere preceding World War II. Banned and revived multiple times, the work eventually became an international success.
Cocteau inscribed this book to his friends, the artists Marcel Duchamp and Mary Reynolds, who executed the bookbinding. Cocteau accompanied the inscription with a drawing of two overlapping, interconnected faces—one in profile, the other looking straight ahead. This drawing, paired with the cover’s mesmerizing marbled pattern, recalls the fluid dynamics between the play’s characters—or perhaps even between Duchamp and Reynolds, who were artistic collaborators as well as lovers.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Ryerson and Burnham Libraries Special Collections
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Artist
- Mary Reynolds
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Title
- Les parents terribles: Pièce en trois actes (The Terrible Parents: A play in three acts)
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Place
- Paris (Object made in:)
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Date
- 1938
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Medium
- Quarter vellum binding with Cockerell marbled paper; marbled endpapers; original paper covers bound in; inscription and drawing in graphite on half-title by Cocteau
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Dimensions
- H.: 18 cm (7 1/8 in.)
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Credit Line
- Mary Reynolds Collection, Ryerson & Burnham Libraries
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Reference Number
- 2024.856
Extended information about this artwork
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
