Illustration for Claudel's Commentary on the Apocalypse

Illustration for Claudel's Commentary on the Apocalypse

1932

Pencil drawing. Charlot completed over 300 drawings for a monumental project to illustrate Claudel's proposed commentary on the Apocalypse. The illustrations were an unprecedented collaboration between a writer and an artist. As Claudel wrote he gave Charlot parts of the manuscript along with sketches and descriptions of the illustrations he wanted. Charlot's drawings constitute an important chapter in his artistic life and bear unique witness to Claudel's thought. Here, the Great Prostitute mounted on the monster (the Antichrist), holds a saxophone and cocktail glass, representative of modernity and the decadence of the jazz age.

Charlot Collection, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Library

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