Lithographie originale sur Japon - « Descente aux Enfers »

Original lithograph printed by Mourlot on nacré Japan paper, signed in pencil by Georges Braque.

In 1961, Georges Braque created four lithographs to illustrate Marcel Jouhandeau's Descente aux Enfers, published by the Nouveau Cercle parisien du livre in 200 copies on Rives paper. A suite on Japan paper was included with a small number of copies, most of them unsigned.

This lithograph is one of the rare Japan paper proofs bearing a magnificent original signature by the artist.

Like Picasso after him, Braque worked directly on the stone in the workshop of Fernand Mourlot, the foremost address in Parisian lithography, collaborating closely with the pressroom craftsmen to execute his compositions himself.

The bird motif, which first appeared in the artist's work in 1929, runs throughout this final period, in his paintings as in his prints, including this lithograph from Descente aux Enfers, one of the very last illustrated books Georges Braque would produce.

Rare in his œuvre, the remarkable lightness of colour in this work sets it apart from the other compositions in the book. Birds, clouds, and sky are woven together with the natural undulations of the Japan paper. Form and colour seem poised to dissolve into the sheet itself, leaving, for a moment, the impression that the artist has signed bare space...

A rare and superb lithograph on Japan paper, with the artist's manuscript signature in pencil.

Two small traces of adhesive on the verso.