De Geetere, Frans. Spasmes (№ 69). — Paris, 1930.

Portfolio of 12 original etchings, each 380 × 285 mm; plate marks approximately 270–280 × 205–210 mm; printed on watermarked Arches wove paper. Plates loose, each with captioned glassine protective tissue bearing the plate title. Two attached leaves of letterpress text (title/statement and colophon). Original publisher’s cardboard folder with cloth spine and ribbon ties, 400 × 298 mm, boards detached; paper title label pasted to front cover. Limited edition of 150 copies; this copy numbered 69. Published and printed by the artist, anonymously.

Title-leaf: Je n’espère pas séduire, avec les planches de ce recueil, les amateurs d’estampes libertines. Ce n’est pas ici leur régal accoutumé. Il n’y a rien, dans ces eaux-fortes, des grivoiseries qui peut-être leur servent d’excitation. On n’y voit pas figurer les ébats doucereux chers aux idéalistes de la pornographie, ni les mignardises blanches et roses que collectionnent des onanistes bien élevés, ni ces organes si soigneusement lavés à l’eau de bidet qu’on pourrait les croire de porcelaine. L’amour que j’ai représenté n’est pas aussi distingué. J’ai laissé au désir ses inquiétudes, ses violences et ses spasmes, car c’est sans doute là qu’est sa véritable poésie. Je m’en voudrais de chercher à plaire aux gens qui s’imaginent l’amour comme une gentillesse sexuelle, et sa représentation comme l’enseigne d’une maison de rendez-vous. (I do not hope, with the plates of this collection, to seduce devotees of libertine prints. This is not their accustomed fare. In these etchings, there is nothing of the bawdy trifles that might serve as their stimulation. One does not see here the tender frolics dear to the idealists of pornography, nor the pink-and-white prettinesses collected by well-bred onanists, nor those organs so carefully washed with bidet water that one might take them for porcelain. The love I have depicted is not so refined. I have left desire its anxieties, its violences, and its spasms, for that is undoubtedly where its true poetry lies. I would reproach myself for trying to please those who imagine love as a sexual gentleness and its representation as the signboard of a rendezvous house.)

Colophon: Ce recueil de douze eaux-fortes a été tiré à 150 exemplaires, soit : un exemplaire sur différents papiers contenant tous les dessins originaux et états des eaux-fortes, numéroté 1 ; et 149 exemplaires sur vélin à la forme des Papeteries d’Arches, numérotés de 2 à 150. Exemplaire N° 69. Ne se vend nulle part. (This collection of twelve etchings was printed in an edition of 150 copies, namely: one copy on various papers containing all the original drawings and states of the etchings, numbered 1; and 149 copies on mould-made vellum from the Papeteries d’Arches, numbered from 2 to 150. Copy No. 69. Not for sale anywhere.)

The artist Frans de Geetere (Belgian–French, 1895–1968) and his wife, May den Engelsen (Dutch–French, 1900–1968), also an artist and printmaker working in a similar style, lived on a boat in Paris, where they printed their etchings. Further information is available here and here.

Catalogue Raisonné: Dutel 2449 (vol. III, p. 373-4), different order of plates.

The etchings in the portfolio are not numbered. We have chosen to retain the sequence given on the website www.honesterotica.com:

1. Introduction
2. Paysage (Landscape)
3. Coulisses (Backstage)
4. Fidélité (Fidelity)
5. Assaut (Assault)
6. En visite (On a Visit)
7. Bachelières (Undergraduate Girls)
8. The Back Door
9. Les deux sœurs (The Two Sisters)
10. Idylle (Idyl)
11. Confidence
12. Post coïtum (After Intercourse)