199 - Francis PONGE. Comments on Fautrier’s Nudes. Paris, Galerie Rive Droite, 1956.

Francis PONGE. Comments on Fautrier’s Nudes. Paris, Galerie Rive Droite, 1956. Quarto, old rose-colored box, smooth spine, with a large rectangle of natural burgundy box paper veined with green inlaid on the front cover, untrimmed, cover and spine preserved, slipcase (Leroux, 1977). First edition: catalog of the 1956 exhibition of 17 paintings by Fautrier at the Galerie Rive Droite. Separate print run, limited to 45 copies, illustrated with an original color lithograph by Jean Fautrier: one of 43 copies on white stamp paper. This lithograph is an “original multiple” according to Fautrier himself, who, since the late 1940s, had been using a new technique involving painting over a printed background. Thus, “this plate varies significantly from copy to copy. The oil-based ground is characteristic of multiple originals; the surface is swept with a chalky texture and varying shades of violet, blue, and pink; as for the form, it is very freely reinterpreted according to the typical structure of this nude. One cannot speak of lithography, as the print run’s justification suggests. Some propose the idea of a series of works, all entirely original” (R. Mason). Simple, decorated binding by Leroux, dated 1977. Ill. 2 A page from Francis Ponge’s autograph manuscript. This working version differs from the printed version on page 12.