Picasso

Managing to gather modernist painters and writers, Kahnweiler also launched a series of artists' books: Éditions Kahnweiler. These editions were primarily aimed at book lovers, discerning bibliophiles, and enthusiasts of art and literature. We must highlight that he had the courage to only publish first editions of works by contemporary authors.[1] It is also important to note his intuition, his gift for unearthing new talent, also among writers.

Derain designed the logo for the publishing company and illustrated Guillaume Apollinaire's L'Enchanteur pourrissant in 1909; Picasso produced the images for Saint Matorel by Max Jacob in 1911. Many others followed: Malraux, Artaud, Salacrou, Limbour, Leiris, and also Satie, Reverdy, Bataille, Desnos, Radiguet, and Ponge, illustrated with engravings commissioned from the gallery's artists (Derain, Braque, Picasso, Gris, Léger, Masson, Laurens, and Beaudin). Kahnweiler took advantage of the craze for the genre in the early 20th century, a time when illustrated books were in their heyday, capturing the alchemy between a writer and an artist.

A vignette with the editor's initials, HK, appeared on all his publications, symbolizing the care he took in their edition and production: "A book cannot be perfect if it contains more than two mistakes," said Kanhweiler, uncompromising about the quality of his publications. Between 1909 and 1968, he published 42 books based on the same principles with his three successive publishing houses. Every new artist in the gallery had to create the images for an upcoming book!