Joan Miró

Escalade

1969

Stanley William Hayter, 'Expansion', color etching and soft-ground, 1970, edition 100, Black & Moorhead 334. Signed, titled, dated, and numbered '23/50' in pencil. A superb, richly inked impression with fresh, vivid colors on heavy off-white wove paper; the full sheet with margins (2 to 2 1/2 inches), in excellent condition. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Image size 17 1/8 x 19 7/16 inches (435 x 494 mm); sheet size 22 x 23 1/2 inches (559 x 597 mm). This innovative graphic work was created in the first state using a plate covered with a plastic sheet; the sheet was cut, and the soft-ground texture was added. In the second state, the plate was covered again, and the sheet cut then etched with a deep bite, and a soft ground texture was added. Printed by Hector Saunier: intaglio fluorescent orange, hard roller phthalo green, soft roller transparent yellow. Note: the online image cannot accurately convey the vibrancy of the printed fluorescent orange. An impression of this work is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art. ABOUT THE ARTIST Stanley William Hayter (1901-1988) was a British painter and printmaker associated in the 1930s with Surrealism and from 1940 onward with Abstract Expressionism. Regarded as one of the most significant printmakers of the 20th century, Hayter founded the legendary Atelier 17 studio in Paris, now known as Atelier Contrepoint. Among the artists he is credited with influencing are Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, Joan Miró, Alexander Calder, and Marc Chagall. The hallmark of the workshop was its egalitarian structure, breaking sharply with the traditional French engraving studios by insisting on a cooperative approach to labor and technical discoveries. In 1929 Hayter was introduced to Surrealism by Yves Tanguy and André Masson, who, with other Surrealists, worked with Hayter at Atelier 17. The often violent imagery of Hayter’s Surrealist period was stimulated in part by his passionate response to the Spanish Civil War and the rise of Fascism. He organized portfolios of graphic works to raise funds for the Spanish cause, including Solidarité (Paris, 1938), a portfolio of seven prints, one of them by Picasso. Hayter frequently exhibited with the Surrealists during the 1930s but left the movement when Paul Eluard was expelled. Eluard’s poem Facile Proie (1939) was written in response to a set of Hayter’s engravings. Other writers with whom Hayter collaborated in this way included Samuel Beckett and Georges Hugnet. Hayter joined the exile of the Parisian avant-garde in 1939, moving with his second wife, the American sculptor Helen Phillips...

Signed lower right, "Ryonosuke Fukui" (Japanese, 1923-1986), a listed artist, and created circa 1965. An artist's proof, hand-colored etching compris...