Vlaminck, Maurice De (1876-1958)

"Mareil" [a village in France], original signed woodcut

Paris: Kahnweiler & Birault,1913. 25/30 copies, signed in pencil in the lower right margin "Vlaminck" and numbered in pencll in the lower left margin. The title "Mareil" is in pencil at the lower left edge of the large margin, probably in a different hand. The oversquare image measures 24.7 cm high and 33.6 cm wide (10-1/8 x 13-1/4 in.). The paper is 43 cm high x 49 cm wide (17 x 19-1/2 in.). The professionally made mat, ready for framing, is 20 x 26 in. This print is 7b (of c) in the Walterskirchen catalogue raisonné. It was printed and published by Hervé Kahnweiler and Paul Birault in Paris on laid van Gelder paper. Its provenance is the Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., collection and R. E. Lewis. Stebbins was a noted scholar specializing in American art and a curator at the Harvard museums; R. E. Lewis was one of the leading American print dealers of the twentieth century. Maurice de Vlaminck, along with Matisse, Derain, Braque, and others, was one of the major figures in the brief-lived but highly influential group "Les Fauves" (The Wild Beasts) that had three exhibitions between 1905 and 1908. Vlaminck flirted with Cubism and was influenced by German Expressionism, especially its prints. A strong and aggressive man (a boxer, among other things), the act of cutting woodblocks must have come to him naturally. The Cubist and Expressionist influences are clearly visible in this large, early depiction of a cockeyed village. "Mareil," with its bold composition and its striking visual texture, quite likely is the best of all his prints in any medium. Condition is very fine. The offwhite paper is warmer in color than the image in the attached scans. Item #34051

Price: $6,750.00