Artist: Joan Mitchell (American, 1925-1992)
Title: "Untitled" (Page 92-93)
Portfolio: One Cent Life
*Unsigned edition
Year: 1964
Medium: Original Lithograph on wove paper
Limited edition: 2,000, (there was also a signed edition of 100 on Rives BFK paper)
Printer: Maurice Beaudet, Paris, France
Publisher: Eberhard W. Kornfeld, Bern, Switzerland
Reference: "Joan Mitchell - Prints and Illustrated Books: A Retrospective" - Susan Sheehan Gallery No. 11, page 2
Sheet size: 16" x 22.88"
Condition: With centerfold as issued. In excellent condition
Notes:
Provenance: private collection - New York, NY. Comes from Ting's famous 1964 "One Cent Life" portfolio of 62 lithographs by various artists. Printed in two colors from two stone plates: green and black. There are two untitled lithographs (page 94 and 91) by Chinese-American artist Walasse Ting (1929-2010) on verso, as issued.
"One Cent Life" was conceived in the early 1960's by Walasse Ting who presented lithographic plates to a number of artists working in America and Europe asking them to provide illustrations for his book of poems. The artists were either friends of his or of the abstract expressionist painter, Sam Francis, who edited the book, contributed six lithographs, and introduced Ting to his gallery manager Eberhard W. Kornfeld in Bern, Switzerland. Among the contributors were American artists associated with the emerging pop art movement. A number of more established European artists associated with the avant-garde CoBrA group in the late 1940's and early 1950's were also asked to participate also, whom Ting met when he moved to Paris in 1952. Ting based himself in Paris for ten months to supervise the printing of the plates. The book was printed by Maurice Beaudet who Ting met thanks to Pierre Alechinsky, and published by Eberhard W. Kornfeld of Bern, Switzerland. The poems were by Walasse Ting himself, jacket by Machteld Appel, and typesetting by Georges Girard all in Paris, France. The twenty-eight contributing artists were Pierre Alechinsky, Karel Appel, Enrico Baj, Alan Davie, Jim Dine, Oyvind Fahlstrom, Sam Francis, Robert Indiana, Alfred Jensen, Asger Jorn, Allan Kaprow, Alfred Leslie, Roy Lichtenstein, Joan Mitchell, Kiki O.K., Claes Oldenburg, Mel Ramos, Robert Rauschenberg, Reinhoud, Jean-Paul Riopelle, James Rosenquist, Antonio Saura, Kimber Smith, K.R.H. Sonderborg, Walasse Ting, Bram van Velde, Andy Warhol, and Tom Wesselmann. Reference: "From Manet to Hockney" - Hogben page 135; "A Century of Artists Books" - Castleman page 208-209
Biography:
Joan Mitchell (February 12, 1925 – October 30, 1992) was an American "second generation" abstract expressionist painter and printmaker. She was a member of the American abstract expressionist movement, even though much of her career took place in France. Along with Lee Krasner, Grace Hartigan, Helen Frankenthaler, Shirley Jaffe and Sonia Gechtoff, she was one of her era's few female painters to gain critical and public acclaim. Her paintings and editioned prints can be seen in major museums and collections across the United States and Europe.
