Robert De Launay Art

Leonor Fini - Cats - Original Engraving Mme.Helvetius' Cats Original etching created in 1985, Printed Signature (LF). Conditions: excellent Edition: 100 Support: Arches paper. Dimensions: Paper dimensions: 44 x 28 cm Editions: Moret, Paris. Leonor Fini is considered one of the most important women artists of the mid-twentieth century, along with Leonora Carrington, Frida Kahlo, Meret Oppenheim, Remedios Varo, and Dorothea Tanning – most of whom Fini knew well. Her career, which spanned some six decades, included painting, graphic design, book illustration, product design (the renowned torso-shaped perfume bottle for Schiaparelli’s Shocking), and set and costume design for theatre, ballet, opera, and film. In this compellingly readable, exhaustively researched account, author Peter Webb brings Fini’s provocative art and unconventional personal life, as well as the vibrant avant-garde world in which she revolved, vividly in life. Born in Buenos Aires in 1907 (August 30 – January 18, 1996, Paris) to Italian and Argentine parents, Leonor grew up in Trieste, Italy, raised by her strong-willed, independent mother, Malvina. She was a virtually self-taught artist, learing anatomy directly from studying cadavers in the local morgue and absorbing composition and technique from the Old Masters through books and visits to museums. Fini’s fledging attempts at painting in Trieste let her to Milan, where she participated in her first group exhibition in 1929, and then to Paris in 1931. Her vivacious personality and flamboyant attire instantly garnered her a spotlight in the Parisian art world and she soon developed close relationships with the leading surrealist writers and painters, including Paul Eluard, Salvador Dali, Man Ray, and Max Ernst, who became her lover for a time. The only surrealist she could not abide because of his misogyny was André Breton. Although she repeatedly exhibited with them, she never considered herself a surrealist. The American dealer Julien Levy, very much impressed by Fini’s painting and smitten by her eccentric charms, invited her to New York in 1936, where she took part in a joint gallery exhibition with Max Ernst and met many American surrealists, including Joseph Cornell and Pavel Tchelitchew. Her work was included in MoMA’s pivotal Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism exhibition, along with De Chirico, Dali, Ernst, and Yves Tanguy. In 1939 in Paris she curated an exhibition of surrealist furniture for her childhood friend Leo Castelli for the opening of his first gallery. Introductions to her exhibition catalogues were written by De Chirico, Ernst, and Jean Cocteau. A predominant theme of Fini’s art is the complex relationship between the sexes, primarily the interplay between the dominant female and the passive, androgynous male. In many of her most powerful works, the female takes the form of a sphinx, often with the face of the artist. Fini was also an accomplished portraitist; among her subjects were Stanislao Lepri...

Aquating Engraving Image Size: approx. 20 1/4 x 13 3/8 Framed Size: 28 x 20.5 inches Pencil Signed Lower Right Louis Justin Laurent Icart was born in Toulouse in 1890 and died in Paris in 1950. He lived in New York City in the 1920s, where he became known for his Art-Deco color etchings of glamourous women. He was first son of Jean and Elisabeth Icart and was officially named Louis Justin Laurent Icart. The use of his initials L.I. would be sufficient in this household. Therefore, from the moment of his birth he was dubbed 'Helli'. The Icart family lived modestly in a small brick home on rue Traversière-de-la-balance, in the culturally rich Southern French city of Toulouse, which was the home of many prominent writers and artists, the most famous being Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Icart entered the l'Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Toulouse in order to continue his studies for a career in business, particularly banking (his father's profession). However, he soon discovered the play writings of Victor Hugo (1802-1885), which were to change the course of his life. Icart borrowed whatever books he could find by Hugo at the Toulouse library, devouring the tales, rich in both romantic imagery and the dilemmas of the human condition. It was through Icart's love of the theater that he developed a taste for all the arts, though the urge to paint was not as yet as strong for him as the urge to act. It was not until his move to Paris in 1907 that Icart would concentrate on painting, drawing and the production of countless beautiful etchings, which have served (more than the other mediums) to indelibly preserve his name in twentieth century art history. Art Deco, a term coined at the 1925 Paris Exposition des Arts Decoratifs, had taken its grip on the Paris of the 1920s. By the late 1920s Icart, working for both publications and major fashion and design studios, had become very successful, both artistically and financially. His etchings reached their height of brilliance in this era of Art Deco, and Icart had become the symbol of the epoch. Yet, although Icart has created for us a picture of Paris and New York life in the 1920s and 1930s, he worked in his own style, derived principally from the study of eighteenth-century French masters such as Jean Antoine Watteau, François Boucher and Jean Honoré Fragonard. In Icart's drawings, one sees the Impressionists Degas...

"Combat Equestre" is an original lithograph by Claude Weisbuch. The artist signed the piece lower right and wrote the edition number (24/100) in the lower left. This piece depicts mu...

A Fierce Bull. 1911. Drypoint. Hardie 108. 5 3/8 x 8 (sheet 8 5/16 x 11 7/8). Edition 8. An exceptional impression with rich drypoint burr printed on antique laid paper. A proof of t...

Los Angeles-based artist, Laura Owens' horse prints often incorporate her characteristic style, which challenges traditional assumptions about figuration and abstraction . Her work f...

This artwork titled "Fireside Christmas" c. 1985 is an original color etching by American artist Scott Fitzgerald. It is hand signed, titled and numbered 158/250 in pencil by the artist. Published and printed by the artist. The image (plate mark) size is 11.5 x 17.65 inches, sheet size is 19.25 x 25.25 inches. it is in excellent condition, has never been framed. About the artist: Scott Fitzgerald received his Master’s Degree in Arts from California State University Fullerton, and went on to teach drawing and printmaking for 2 years at the university. During his college years, he focused his study in contemporary art and photography, creating mixed media works often with social comments. It was not until the sophomore year, he discovered the traditional art of etching in his printmaking class. Immediately, he embraced the complex and difficult technical process of making prints from etching on copper plates. Scott Fitzgerald established himself as a prominent printmaker in the next few years. With a strong interest in history, he accepted a commission to produce a series of etching depicting 15 Orange County historical landmarks. Besides producing very intricate prints in various sizes, he has engaged in many special projects. He worked with renowned English printer John Randle to produce a group of etchings...

The Matador. 1911. Drypoint. Hardie 109. 6 7/8 x 10 7/8 (sheet 7 7/8 x 12). Edition 15. A few scattered foxing marks and slight mat line; otherwise fine o...

KATHE KOLLWITZ (1867-1945) HAMBURGER KNIEPPE, 1901) (K.58 IIIb) Soft Ground Etching, Plate 9 ¾ x 8 ¼ sheet 10 ½ x 13 ¾. With the von de Becke blind stamp in the lower right. Prin...

Very cool and collectible book, Banksy’s Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall. Released in 2001. This is Banksy's first book. He released 3 books in this mini black book format in ...

This whimsical and surreal etching by Mexican artist Maximino Javier, dated 1984, embodies his unique visual language that blends fantasy, folklore, and satire. Executed with intrica...

Night Time, Dieppe. 1926-27. Drypoint. Appleby 123. 7 7/8 x 11/ Edition 100. A fine impression printed on cream laid paper with full margins. Signed in penc...

Bridget Riley: Reconnaissance (hand signed and inscribed by Bridget Riley), 2001 Hardback monograph (book) with no dust jacket as issued (hand signed and...