Portfolio: An Intercontinental Quarterly
Encyclopedia
Portfolio: An Intercontinental Quarterly was a cross-disciplinary literary journal
published between 1945 and 1947. It was edited by Caresse Crosby and published through her Black Sun Press
. Only six issues were published, each totaling about 1000 copies. Each issue was a series of loose sheets contained in a folio, lavishly illustrated, and printed in limited numbers. Contributors included many avant-garde
authors, architects, photographers, and illustrators who were prominent in their respective fields, including individuals like Albert Camus
(who contributed "Letter to a German Friend," his first appearance in an English-language publication), architect Luigi Moretti
, artist Pablo Picasso, and photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson
, along with emerging writers like Charles Bukowski
. It introduced American readers to many authors who later became famous.
through the Black Sun Press
a number of emerging writers during the 1920s and 1930s in Paris. After his suicide in December 1929, she continued their work, though less actively. The press stopped active publishing when World War II intervened and Crosby left Paris for the United States.
Towards the end of World War II, Harry T. Moore
encouraged her to start a new cultural magazine, which she titled Portfolio with the desire to present to the public "lively and varied examples of work by modern artists." Each issue contained prose, poetry, prints and plans. She hoped to initiate an "exchange of thought between America and Europe" and to carry forth "a new expression of man's aspirations." She followed in the tradition of the original literary journal transition
, which her husband Harry Crosby had edited. She hoped that artists of all kinds could "build a bridge of enduring fabric between the ivory tower and the arena" and contribute to rebuilding the culture of Europe. The Portfolios included work by a variety of avant-garde
writers, artists, photographers, and architects. The publication featured new work, translated works of foreign writers, re-published works of writers whose work had not been widely known, and both original images and reproductions of various artist's work.
, gave special treatment to 100 or so deluxe copies that featured original artwork by Henri Matisse
, Romare Bearden
, and others. Crosby worked from her offices at 1620 20th Street NW in Washington D.C. She lived around the corner at 2008 Q St. NW. She later moved the offices to 918 F Street, N.W.
. It featured primarily French writers and artists. The fourth issue was published in Rome and featured Italian writers and artists. The last issue, number 6, was published in Athens and focused on Greek authors and artists.
Crosby intended to publish four issues per year, and initially offered subscriptions for USD$10.00 per year. Single copies were available for $3.00 each. She originally intended to print only 1,300 copies of each issue, but in fact printed only 1000 copies of each issue.
of World War II
. It included 26 leaves in loose sheets, contained in a paper folio cover. Edited by Caresse Crosby. Harry T. Moore
served as assistant editor. Editorial advisers were Henry Miller
for prose, Selden Rodman for poetry, and Sam Rosenberg
for photography.
Prose was contributed by Caresse Crosby, René Crevel
, Henry Miller (The Stuff of Life), David Daiches
, Jerome Weidman
(Sam). Poetry contributors included Karl Shapiro
who contributed three sonnet
s from the Place of Love; Kay Boyle
, Louis Aragon
, Ruth Herschberger, Demetrios Capetanakis
(Emily Dickinson) and Coleman Rosenberger, who wrote Manet in the Sale Mines at Merkers and also served as an editorial adviser.
Drawings and illustrations were produced by Jean Helion
, Romare Bearden
, Henry T. Moore, Pietro Lazzari
, and Lilian Swann Saarinen. Sam Rosenberg contributed both drawings and photography. Crosby included a piece penned by her late husband Harry Crosby (Anatomy of Flight), a photograph by Harry, and an unattributed portrait of Kay Boyle
.
, It contained 22 leaves in a folio. Henry Miller once again served as an editorial adviser. Contributors included Paul Éluard
, Albert Camus
, Jean-Paul Sartre
, René Char
, Francis Ponge
, Kristians Tonny, Henri Matisse
, Myron O'Higgins, Francis Ponge
, Paul Grimault
, Claude Roy
, Robert Lannoy, Robert Lowell
, Claude Morgan, Valdi Leduc, Weldon Kees
, Mireille Sidoine, Tudal, Jerome Snyder
, Louis Martin-Chauffier, Francis Gruber
, Selden Rodman, and Harry T. Moore.
Artists and illustrators included Dora Maar
, Henri Cartier-Bresson
, and reproductions of work by Picasso
, Matisse
, and Alberto Giacometti
.
's first separately published work. His first book was not published until 1960, nearly fifteen years later. The leaves or broadsides were in various sizes, loosely contained by 17 by 12.25 in (431.8 by 311.2 mm) yellow paper covers. The front was lettered in red. It contained 29 leaves enclosed in a folio, plus an unnumbered leaf of "Book Reviews" by Selden Rodman, along with a "Cover Leaf" and "Foreleaf." Only 1000 copies were printed.
Other prose contributions came from Kay Boyle
, Harry Crosby, Jean-Paul Sartre, Henry Miller, Stephen Spender
, Garcia Lorca, David Daiches
, Jean Genet
, Kenneth Rexroth
, and others. Illustrations were done by Hans Richter
, Wifredo Lam
, Pierre Tal-Coat
, Dorothea Tanning
, and others.
The issue was edited by Henry Miller, Romare Bearden, Sam Rosenberg. and Harry T. Moore.
and Elio Vittorini
. It contained 28 loose leaves in a folio, including three essays on contemporary Italian fiction, painting, and cinema and a short section of poetry. Henry Miller edited "in absentia."
Prose selections were included from Harry Crosby, Caresse Crosby, Bruno Zevi
, and others. A series of leaves were devoted to artwork (including photography) by Giorgio Morandi
(on color reproduction); Carlo Levi
, Giorgio de Chirico
, Giacomo Manzù
, Corrado Cagli
, Panayiotis Tetsis
(on painting and sculpture); and Pier Luigi Nervi
and Luigi Moretti
(on architecture).
It featured prose and poetry written by Harry T. Moore, Harry Crosby, Selden Rodman, Edwin Becker, Charles Olson
, Leo Tolstoy
(The Law of Love and the Law of Violence), Anaïs Nin
, Emanuel Carnevale, George Mann
, and others. It also included reproductions by Max Ernst
, Man Ray
, Carmelo, Roberto Fasola, Modigliani, Scipione, Justin Locke, Mirko, Meraud Guevara, and others.
, Nicolas Calas
, Cambas, D. Nicolareizis, and others. She published contributions from Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas
, a sculptor, engraver, iconographer, writer and academic, and from painter and poet Nikos Engonopoulos
. Illustrations were provided by Yannis Moralis, Kanellis, Kapralos, Diamantopoulos, and others.
Literary magazine
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters...
published between 1945 and 1947. It was edited by Caresse Crosby and published through her Black Sun Press
Black Sun Press
The Black Sun Press was an English language book publisher founded in 1927 as Éditions Narcisse by poet Harry Crosby and his wife Caresse Crosby , American expatriates living in Paris...
. Only six issues were published, each totaling about 1000 copies. Each issue was a series of loose sheets contained in a folio, lavishly illustrated, and printed in limited numbers. Contributors included many avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
authors, architects, photographers, and illustrators who were prominent in their respective fields, including individuals like Albert Camus
Albert Camus
Albert Camus was a French author, journalist, and key philosopher of the 20th century. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.Camus was awarded the 1957...
(who contributed "Letter to a German Friend," his first appearance in an English-language publication), architect Luigi Moretti
Luigi Moretti
Luigi Walter Moretti was an Italian architect.- Education and academic career :He was born in via Napoleone III, on the Esquiline Hill, in the same apartment where he lived almost his entire life...
, artist Pablo Picasso, and photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer considered to be the father of modern photojournalism. He was an early adopter of 35 mm format, and the master of candid photography...
, along with emerging writers like Charles Bukowski
Charles Bukowski
Henry Charles Bukowski was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural and economic ambience of his home city of Los Angeles...
. It introduced American readers to many authors who later became famous.
Origins and purpose
Caresse Crosby, a long-time patron of the arts, originally published with her husband Harry CrosbyHarry Crosby
Harry Crosby was an American heir, a bon vivant, poet, publisher, and for some, epitomized the Lost Generation in American literature. He was the son of one of the richest banking families in New England, a member of the Boston Brahmin, and the nephew of Jane Norton Grew, the wife of financier J....
through the Black Sun Press
Black Sun Press
The Black Sun Press was an English language book publisher founded in 1927 as Éditions Narcisse by poet Harry Crosby and his wife Caresse Crosby , American expatriates living in Paris...
a number of emerging writers during the 1920s and 1930s in Paris. After his suicide in December 1929, she continued their work, though less actively. The press stopped active publishing when World War II intervened and Crosby left Paris for the United States.
Towards the end of World War II, Harry T. Moore
Harry T. Moore
Harry Tyson Moore was an African-American teacher, and founder of the first branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Brevard County, Florida....
encouraged her to start a new cultural magazine, which she titled Portfolio with the desire to present to the public "lively and varied examples of work by modern artists." Each issue contained prose, poetry, prints and plans. She hoped to initiate an "exchange of thought between America and Europe" and to carry forth "a new expression of man's aspirations." She followed in the tradition of the original literary journal transition
Transition (literary journal)
transition was an experimental literary journal that featured surrealist, expressionist, and Dada art and artists. It was founded in 1927 by poet Eugene Jolas and his wife Maria McDonald and published in Paris...
, which her husband Harry Crosby had edited. She hoped that artists of all kinds could "build a bridge of enduring fabric between the ivory tower and the arena" and contribute to rebuilding the culture of Europe. The Portfolios included work by a variety of avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
writers, artists, photographers, and architects. The publication featured new work, translated works of foreign writers, re-published works of writers whose work had not been widely known, and both original images and reproductions of various artist's work.
Publishing format
During World War II and for some time after, paper was in short supply. Caresse printed the magazine on a variety of different sizes, colors and types of paper stock printed by different printers, stuffed into a 11.5 by 15 in (292.1 by 381 mm) folio, though the size varied. Caresse printed 1,000 copies of each issue, and as she had done with earlier works published by the Black Sun PressBlack Sun Press
The Black Sun Press was an English language book publisher founded in 1927 as Éditions Narcisse by poet Harry Crosby and his wife Caresse Crosby , American expatriates living in Paris...
, gave special treatment to 100 or so deluxe copies that featured original artwork by Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
, Romare Bearden
Romare Bearden
Romare Bearden was an African American artist and writer. He worked in several media including cartoons, oils, and collage.-Education:...
, and others. Crosby worked from her offices at 1620 20th Street NW in Washington D.C. She lived around the corner at 2008 Q St. NW. She later moved the offices to 918 F Street, N.W.
International publication
Only six issues were published. Issues 1, 3, and 5 were printed in Washington D. C. Issue 2 was printed in Paris less than seven months after the end of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. It featured primarily French writers and artists. The fourth issue was published in Rome and featured Italian writers and artists. The last issue, number 6, was published in Athens and focused on Greek authors and artists.
Crosby intended to publish four issues per year, and initially offered subscriptions for USD$10.00 per year. Single copies were available for $3.00 each. She originally intended to print only 1,300 copies of each issue, but in fact printed only 1000 copies of each issue.
Portfolio I
The inaugural issue was published in Washington, D.C., in 1945, immediately after the endEnd of World War II in Europe
The final battles of the European Theatre of World War II as well as the German surrender to the Western Allies and the Soviet Union took place in late April and early May 1945.-Timeline of surrenders and deaths:...
of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. It included 26 leaves in loose sheets, contained in a paper folio cover. Edited by Caresse Crosby. Harry T. Moore
Harry T. Moore
Harry Tyson Moore was an African-American teacher, and founder of the first branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Brevard County, Florida....
served as assistant editor. Editorial advisers were Henry Miller
Henry Miller
Henry Valentine Miller was an American novelist and painter. He was known for breaking with existing literary forms and developing a new sort of 'novel' that is a mixture of novel, autobiography, social criticism, philosophical reflection, surrealist free association, and mysticism, one that is...
for prose, Selden Rodman for poetry, and Sam Rosenberg
Samuel Rosenberg
Samuel Rosenberg was best known for his 1974 study of Sherlock Holmes titled Naked is the Best Disguise . His other notable book was The Confessions of a Trivialist .He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, as the son of Jacob S...
for photography.
Prose was contributed by Caresse Crosby, René Crevel
René Crevel
René Crevel was a French writer involved with the surrealist movement.-Life:Crevel was born in Paris to a family of Parisian bourgeoisie. He had a traumatic religious upbringing. At the age of fourteen, during a difficult stage of his life, his father committed suicide by hanging himself. Crevel...
, Henry Miller (The Stuff of Life), David Daiches
David Daiches
David Daiches was a Scottish literary historian and literary critic, scholar and writer. He wrote extensively on English literature, Scottish literature and Scottish culture.-Early life:...
, Jerome Weidman
Jerome Weidman
Jerome Weidman was an American playwright and novelist. He collaborated with George Abbott on the book for the musical Fiorello! with music by Jerry Bock, and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick...
(Sam). Poetry contributors included Karl Shapiro
Karl Shapiro
Karl Jay Shapiro was an American poet. He was appointed the fifth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1946.-Biography:...
who contributed three sonnet
Sonnet
A sonnet is one of several forms of poetry that originate in Europe, mainly Provence and Italy. A sonnet commonly has 14 lines. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound"...
s from the Place of Love; Kay Boyle
Kay Boyle
Kay Boyle was an American writer, educator, and political activist.- Early years :The granddaughter of a publisher, Kay Boyle was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and grew up in several cities but principally in Cincinnati, Ohio...
, Louis Aragon
Louis Aragon
Louis Aragon , was a French poet, novelist and editor, a long-time member of the Communist Party and a member of the Académie Goncourt.- Early life :...
, Ruth Herschberger, Demetrios Capetanakis
Demetrios Capetanakis
Demetrios Capetanakis or Kapetanakis or Capetanaces was a Greek poet, essayist and critic. For the last five years of his life he lived in Britain, and wrote some poetry in English....
(Emily Dickinson) and Coleman Rosenberger, who wrote Manet in the Sale Mines at Merkers and also served as an editorial adviser.
Drawings and illustrations were produced by Jean Helion
Jean Hélion
Jean Hélion was a French painter whose abstract work of the 1930s established him as a leading modernist. His midcareer rejection of abstraction was followed by nearly five decades as a figurative painter...
, Romare Bearden
Romare Bearden
Romare Bearden was an African American artist and writer. He worked in several media including cartoons, oils, and collage.-Education:...
, Henry T. Moore, Pietro Lazzari
Pietro Lazzari
Pietro Lazzari was an Italian artist and sculptor.An influential sculptor, painter, illustrator and printmaker Pietro Lazzari received his formal education from the Ornamental School of Rome . After the end of the First World War Lazzari joined the Italian Futurist movement and exhibited with such...
, and Lilian Swann Saarinen. Sam Rosenberg contributed both drawings and photography. Crosby included a piece penned by her late husband Harry Crosby (Anatomy of Flight), a photograph by Harry, and an unattributed portrait of Kay Boyle
Kay Boyle
Kay Boyle was an American writer, educator, and political activist.- Early years :The granddaughter of a publisher, Kay Boyle was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and grew up in several cities but principally in Cincinnati, Ohio...
.
Portfolio II
Portfolio II was published in Paris near Christmas in 1945, less than seven months after the end of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, It contained 22 leaves in a folio. Henry Miller once again served as an editorial adviser. Contributors included Paul Éluard
Paul Éluard
Paul Éluard, born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel , was a French poet who was one of the founders of the surrealist movement.-Biography:...
, Albert Camus
Albert Camus
Albert Camus was a French author, journalist, and key philosopher of the 20th century. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.Camus was awarded the 1957...
, Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
, René Char
René Char
René Char was a 20th century French poet.-Biography:Char was born in L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue in the Vaucluse department of France, the youngest of four children of Emile Char and Marie-Therese Rouget, where his father was mayor and managing director of the Vaucluse plasterworks...
, Francis Ponge
Francis Ponge
Francis Jean Gaston Alfred Ponge was a French essayist and poet. In many ways, he combined the two — essay and poem — into a single art form.-Life:...
, Kristians Tonny, Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
, Myron O'Higgins, Francis Ponge
Francis Ponge
Francis Jean Gaston Alfred Ponge was a French essayist and poet. In many ways, he combined the two — essay and poem — into a single art form.-Life:...
, Paul Grimault
Paul Grimault
Paul Grimault was one of the most important French animators. He made many traditionally animated films that were delicate in style, satirical, and lyrical in nature....
, Claude Roy
Claude Roy
Claude Roy was a French poet and essayist.-Awards:* 1969 Prix Littéraire Valery Larbaud for his book Le verbe Aimer et autres essais* 1985 Prix Goncourt de la Poésie-Works:...
, Robert Lannoy, Robert Lowell
Robert Lowell
Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV was an American poet, considered the founder of the confessional poetry movement. He was appointed the sixth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress where he served from 1947 until 1948...
, Claude Morgan, Valdi Leduc, Weldon Kees
Weldon Kees
Harry Weldon Kees was an American poet, painter, literary critic, novelist, jazz pianist, and short story writer...
, Mireille Sidoine, Tudal, Jerome Snyder
Jerome Snyder
Jerome Snyder was an award-winning Jewish-American illustrator and graphic designer. He is best known as the first art director of the magazine Sports Illustrated and as the co-author of popular New York City restaurant guidebook The Underground Gourmet.-Career:He was the art director for several...
, Louis Martin-Chauffier, Francis Gruber
Francis Gruber
Francis Gruber was a French painter and founder of the Nouveau Réalisme school.He was born in Nancy, the son of stained glass artist Jacques Gruber....
, Selden Rodman, and Harry T. Moore.
Artists and illustrators included Dora Maar
Dora Maar
Dora Maar was a French photographer, poet and painter, best known for being a lover and muse of Pablo Picasso.-Life:...
, Henri Cartier-Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer considered to be the father of modern photojournalism. He was an early adopter of 35 mm format, and the master of candid photography...
, and reproductions of work by Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
, Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
, and Alberto Giacometti
Alberto Giacometti
Alberto Giacometti was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draughtsman, and printmaker.Alberto Giacometti was born in the canton Graubünden's southerly alpine valley Val Bregaglia and came from an artistic background; his father, Giovanni, was a well-known post-Impressionist painter...
.
Portfolio III
Portfolio III was published in Washington during the spring 1946. This issue included Charles BukowskiCharles Bukowski
Henry Charles Bukowski was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural and economic ambience of his home city of Los Angeles...
's first separately published work. His first book was not published until 1960, nearly fifteen years later. The leaves or broadsides were in various sizes, loosely contained by 17 by 12.25 in (431.8 by 311.2 mm) yellow paper covers. The front was lettered in red. It contained 29 leaves enclosed in a folio, plus an unnumbered leaf of "Book Reviews" by Selden Rodman, along with a "Cover Leaf" and "Foreleaf." Only 1000 copies were printed.
Other prose contributions came from Kay Boyle
Kay Boyle
Kay Boyle was an American writer, educator, and political activist.- Early years :The granddaughter of a publisher, Kay Boyle was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and grew up in several cities but principally in Cincinnati, Ohio...
, Harry Crosby, Jean-Paul Sartre, Henry Miller, Stephen Spender
Stephen Spender
Sir Stephen Harold Spender CBE was an English poet, novelist and essayist who concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle in his work...
, Garcia Lorca, David Daiches
David Daiches
David Daiches was a Scottish literary historian and literary critic, scholar and writer. He wrote extensively on English literature, Scottish literature and Scottish culture.-Early life:...
, Jean Genet
Jean Genet
Jean Genet was a prominent and controversial French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. Early in his life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but later took to writing...
, Kenneth Rexroth
Kenneth Rexroth
Kenneth Rexroth was an American poet, translator and critical essayist. He is regarded as a central figure in the San Francisco Renaissance, and paved the groundwork for the movement...
, and others. Illustrations were done by Hans Richter
Hans Richter
Hans Richter may refer to:*Hans Richter , Austrian conductor*Hans Richter , designer of the Volksbühne in Berlin and villa Heller in Ústí nad Labem...
, Wifredo Lam
Wifredo Lam
Wifredo Óscar de la Concepción Lam y Castilla , better known as Wifredo Lam, was a Cuban artist who sought to portray and revive the enduring Afro-Cuban spirit and culture...
, Pierre Tal-Coat
Pierre Tal-Coat
Pierre Tal-Coat was a French artist considered to be one of the founders of Tachisme.-Life and work:...
, Dorothea Tanning
Dorothea Tanning
Dorothea Tanning is an American painter, printmaker, sculptor and writer. She has also designed sets and costumes for ballet and theatre.-Biography:...
, and others.
The issue was edited by Henry Miller, Romare Bearden, Sam Rosenberg. and Harry T. Moore.
Portfolio IV
Portfolio IV was published during the summer of 1946 in Rome. It was devoted to Italian writers and artists, including Alberto MoraviaAlberto Moravia
Alberto Moravia, born Alberto Pincherle was an Italian novelist and journalist. His novels explored matters of modern sexuality, social alienation, and existentialism....
and Elio Vittorini
Elio Vittorini
Elio Vittorini was an Italian writer and novelist. He was a contemporary of Cesare Pavese and an influential voice in the modernist school of novel writing. His best-known work is the anti-fascist novel Conversations in Sicily, for which he was jailed when it was published in 1941. The first U.S...
. It contained 28 loose leaves in a folio, including three essays on contemporary Italian fiction, painting, and cinema and a short section of poetry. Henry Miller edited "in absentia."
Prose selections were included from Harry Crosby, Caresse Crosby, Bruno Zevi
Bruno Zevi
Bruno Zevi was an Italian architect, historian, professor, curator, author and editor. Zevi was a vocal critic of 'classicising' modern architecture and postmodernism.-University years:...
, and others. A series of leaves were devoted to artwork (including photography) by Giorgio Morandi
Giorgio Morandi
Giorgio Morandi was an Italian painter and printmaker who specialized in still life. His paintings are noted for their tonal subtlety in depicting apparently simple subjects, which were limited mainly to vases, bottles, bowls, flowers, and landscapes.-Biography:Giorgio Morandi was born in Bologna...
(on color reproduction); Carlo Levi
Carlo Levi
Dr. Carlo Levi was an Italian-Jewish painter, writer, activist, anti-fascist, and doctor.He is best known for his book Cristo si è fermato a Eboli , published in 1945, a memoir of his time spent in exile in Lucania, Italy, after being arrested in connection with his political activism...
, Giorgio de Chirico
Giorgio de Chirico
Giorgio de Chirico was a pre-Surrealist and then Surrealist Italian painter born in Volos, Greece, to a Genovese mother and a Sicilian father. He founded the scuola metafisica art movement...
, Giacomo Manzù
Giacomo Manzù
Giacomo Manzù, pseudonym of Giacomo Manzoni , was an Italian sculptor, communist, and Roman Catholic.-Biography:...
, Corrado Cagli
Corrado Cagli
Corrado Cagli was an Italian painter of Jewish heritage, who lived in the USA during World War II.Cagli was born in Ancona, but in 1915 moved with his family to Rome....
, Panayiotis Tetsis
Panayiotis Tetsis
Panayiotis Tetsis is a major Greek painter. Tetsis is a genuine exponent of the post-impressionistic seascape tradition.- Life and work :...
(on painting and sculpture); and Pier Luigi Nervi
Pier Luigi Nervi
Pier Luigi Nervi was an Italian engineer. He studied at the University of Bologna and qualified in 1913. Dr. Nervi taught as a professor of engineering at Rome University from 1946-61...
and Luigi Moretti
Luigi Moretti
Luigi Walter Moretti was an Italian architect.- Education and academic career :He was born in via Napoleone III, on the Esquiline Hill, in the same apartment where he lived almost his entire life...
(on architecture).
Portfolio V
Portfolio V was published in the spring of 1947 in Paris. The folio was 14.75 by 10.75 in (374.7 by 273.1 mm) and contained 19 loose leaves of text and 11 illustrations, along with a cover leaf and table of contents.It featured prose and poetry written by Harry T. Moore, Harry Crosby, Selden Rodman, Edwin Becker, Charles Olson
Charles Olson
Charles Olson , was a second generation American modernist poet who was a link between earlier figures such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams and the New American poets, which includes the New York School, the Black Mountain School, the Beat poets, and the San Francisco Renaissance...
, Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
(The Law of Love and the Law of Violence), Anaïs Nin
Anaïs Nin
Anaïs Nin was a French-Cuban author, based at first in France and later in the United States, who published her journals, which span more than 60 years, beginning when she was 11 years old and ending shortly before her death, her erotic literature, and short stories...
, Emanuel Carnevale, George Mann
George Mann (writer)
George Mann is an author and editor, primarily in genre fiction. He was born in Darlington, County Durham in 1978. He works and lives in Nottinghamshire, England....
, and others. It also included reproductions by Max Ernst
Max Ernst
Max Ernst was a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was one of the primary pioneers of the Dada movement and Surrealism.-Early life:...
, Man Ray
Man Ray
Man Ray , born Emmanuel Radnitzky, was an American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. Perhaps best described simply as a modernist, he was a significant contributor to both the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal...
, Carmelo, Roberto Fasola, Modigliani, Scipione, Justin Locke, Mirko, Meraud Guevara, and others.
Portfolio VI
Portfolio VI was published during the summer of 1947. It focused on writers and artists from Greece, where publisher Caresse Crosby had for some years tried to establish a world peace center. It was the largest Portfolio with 36 leaves of text and illustration. Writers included Yórgos TheotokásYórgos Theotokás
Yórgos Theotokás , also spelt Geórgios Theotokás, was a Greek novelist.-Biography:He was born in Constantinople ....
, Nicolas Calas
Nicolas Calas
Nicolas Calas was the pseudonym of Nikos Kalamaris , a Greek-American poet and art critic. While living in Greece, he also used the pseudonyms Nikitas Randos and M...
, Cambas, D. Nicolareizis, and others. She published contributions from Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas
Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas
Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas was a leading Greek painter, sculptor, engraver, iconographer, writer and academic...
, a sculptor, engraver, iconographer, writer and academic, and from painter and poet Nikos Engonopoulos
Nikos Engonopoulos
Nikos Engonopoulos was a modern Greek painter and poet. He is one of the most important members of the Greek Generation of the '30s as well as a major representative of the surrealistic movement in Greece...
. Illustrations were provided by Yannis Moralis, Kanellis, Kapralos, Diamantopoulos, and others.