Jean Cocteau - A Woman Must Follow Her Husband - Lithograph - 1958

Jean Cocteau (1889–1963)

A Woman Must Follow Her Husband, 1958.

Lithograph on Arches paper.

Signed by the artist in pencil at the bottom center of the print, numbered 11/50, and inscribed “A friendly souvenir for the R.T.F. gala, January 19, 1960, Jean Cocteau”

View size: 48 x 65 cm.

In August 1955, while attending the Menton Music Festival, Jean Cocteau befriended the deputy mayor Francis Palmero. Palmero then asked him to decorate the hall of the former courthouse, located within City Hall. As early as April 7, 1956, the artist sketched his first designs on the ceiling and two of the walls. Inspired by his mythological double, he chose the theme of Orpheus.

On the right wall: “The wedding of an imaginary (and somewhat Moorish) village unfolds according to tradition: the woman must follow her husband… the young girls bring gifts, a blind man brings an orchid, the young men rejoice, dance, and rush to bid farewell.”