Brief History of Les Fleurs du Mal drawings
Charles Baudelaire's "Les Fleurs du Mal" is a collection of 125 poems published in 1857. It was one of the most important and influential collections of poetry written in 19th Century Europe.

Epstein was a great admirer of this works and in 1936 Epstein was delighted to be asked to illustrate them.

There were 60 finished drawings in total - far exceeding the number stipulated, but he was driven by enthusiasm.

Two versions were printed, one in French, was based on drawings by Rodin on the margins of an 1898 volume of Fleurs du Mal and one in English, illustrated by Epstein. However, the printing of the latter co-incided with the occupation of Paris and it was only seven years later in 1947 that work was resumed on this.

The English translation of the Fleurs du Mal with 22 of Epstein's illustration was published in 1940 in an edition of 1000 Matisse also illustrated the Fleurs du Mal, and like Rodin's, the images are the reflections of the artists' style. Epstein's, on the other hand, are totally different from any of his other works on paper.

37 of Epstein's drawings were exhibited in December 1938 at the Arthur Tooth and Son Gallery in London and almost immediately he was attacked by the art critics and general public. After 14 days he withdrew all his works but fifteen were already sold!

After the Second World War, the Fleurs du Mal illustrated by Epstein found its way to the British Museum when the American Limited Edition Club presented books, designed and printed in England, to the King's Library thus redressing the balance the way he was mistreated in 1938. It is extraordinary that Epstein's illustrations should have been exhibited in 1938, the same year as Picasso's Guernica drawings were shown in London.