Les Bravades: A Portfolio of Pictures Made for Rebecca Welles by Her Father

Before Citizen Kane, before The War of the Worlds, Orson Welles was an artist, and he drew and painted throughout his life. Published here for the first time is one of his most charming works-a gift he created for his daughter Rebecca. The year is 1956. During a stay in St. Tropez, Welles returns to his paintbox. Working with watercolor, crayon, ink, and gouache, sketching and painting on whatever paper he has at hand, Welles creates an illustrated retelling of the Bravade, the festival held every year on St. Tropez's saint's-day. Now Les Bravades has been meticulously reproduced to preserve the original's spirit. From the opening spread-a loose, Dufy-like sketch of the harbor-to the character portraits of the local bravadeurs to the firing of guns and flares at the festival's culmination. Afterword by Simon Callow.