František Kupka: Song of Songs

There are a number of preparatory sketches, drawings, and prints for Kupka's first bibliophile work, Song of Songs (a collection of Jewish wedding songs from various periods). Song of Songs was the author's winning commission. Although the text and illustrations correspond to the conventions of the time, Kupka's work is considered a reform of the French book. He completely rejected the naturalistic form of books at the time and turned to the 18th century, also using Art Nouveau ornamentation. Kupka prepared carefully for the illustrations, studied Old Testament realities, and learned Hebrew. Before arriving at the final design for the book, he tried out a number of other possibilities.
The motif of a naked beauty presenting herself to her master, ruler, and man is repeated in many preparatory drawings for the illustrations of the extensive collection Song of Songs. We know that the model for all these seductive women was Kupka's partner and later wife Eugenie, known as Nini, whom he had met a year earlier and with whom he had spent a beautiful summer of love in 1905 in St. Prix near Paris, documented in many highly erotic watercolors. Nini is said to have also modeled for Renoir. The pictures—like all those in the Song of Songs—are framed by ornaments, which Kupka claimed were not intended to fill empty space, but to complement the story itself.
After the war, Kupka used the pseudonym "Paul Regnard" for his illustrative work, and it is interesting to note that it was Kupka, as Paul Regnard, who retyped Jindřich Waldes's production mark on a printing button and created an advertising mark for his press studs – the famous "woman with a button." The industrialist, whom Kupka had known since 1919, gradually became both his admirer and patron.
A set of 30 original gouaches for the Song of Songs was auctioned in France in 2008 for €247,840.