Collection of Claude and France Lemand.

Inspired by Claude Aveline’s Poem.

Paintings, draw­ings, sculp­tures, artist books and prints by the Artists:

Claude Aveline
Leonor Fini
Stanislao Lepri
Ossip Zadkine

Dia al-Azzawi
Abdallah Benanteur
Franck Charlet
Chaouki Choukini
Saul Kaminer
Daniel Knoderer
Manabu Kochi
Boutros Al-Maari
Mario Murua
Nicolas d’Olce
Abderrahmane Ould Mohand
Sadko
Antonio Segui
Sophido
Tony Soulié
Hussein Tai
Vladimir Velickovic
Ossip Zadkine
Eduardo Zamora

Claude Aveline

Picture of The-Non-Existent-Bird

Here is the pic­ture of The-Non-Existent-Bird.
Not its fault if the Good Lord who made every thing omitted to create it.
It has a look of other birds, for non-exis­tent crea­tures bear some resem­blance to those that exist.
But they haven’t a name.
Which is why this bird is called the Non-Existent-Bird.
And why it is sad.
Perhaps sleeping or waiting for the moment of exis­tence.
Wondering what sort of beak or wings it will have : will it be able to dive under water, as actual birds do, without spoiling its colours ?
It would like to hear itself sing.
It would like to be afraid of death.
It would like to have very ugly, very much alive baby-birds.
So the dream of a non-exis­tent-bird is to stop being a dream.
No one is ever sat­is­fied.
And that being the case, how can all go well with the world ?

Paris 1950 Translated from French by George Buchacan, 1966.