Lithograph, 1963

Edition : 58/75

Publisher : Edwin Engelberts (Genève)

Printer : Mourlot (Paris)

Catalog : Vallier 187

38.00 cm. x 28.00 cm. | 14.96 in. x 11.02 in. (paper)

Framing mark

The lithograph we offer was produced by Braque following the publication of René Char's "Lettera Amorosa", which he illustrated with 27 lithographs in 1963, a text originally published without illustration in 1953 by Gallimard, Paris. Selected for an independent edition, the work bears witness to the alliance between the former's poetry and the latter's pictorial art.

If the poem is attached to places, Braque's art is attached to facts. In an attempt to capture the austerity of reality, which he takes from Cézanne, the artist fragments space to introduce the object, in this case a deep-green clover, a flowery symbol used by the poet to express the hope he feels for the love he expects from a woman whose name he withholds.

Surrounded by a dense black cloud, birds come to life around the shamrock at the center of this sober yet captivating composition. In fact, the darker areas harmonize with the lighter ones, while the contours stand out abruptly from the background, in a formal flatness that is as obvious as it gets. All the artist's sensitivity emanates from the image, so much so that it reminds us that Guillaume Apollinaire praised Braque "for using forms so unknown that only a few poets suspected their existence".

Very good condition
Handsigned by the artist in pencil
Certificate of authenticity

Ref : LCD3636