International Rescue Committee EA 1966 HS

Year1966

Hand SignedSigned By the Artist in Pencil 

Condition Excellent 

Not Framed 

Purchased fromAuction House 2021 

Provenance / HistoryGalerie Michel, Paris. The sale from which this came described the provenance as “Une Galerie Parisienne Historique” and this was no less then the truth. It was founded in 1912 by Robert Gustav Michel and was situated on the Quai Saint-Michel specialising in graphics by Modern Masters. The last owner, Francoise, sadly retired recently due to ill health. 

Story / Additional InfoTitle: International Rescue Committee. Medium: Lithograph, 1966, in colours, on Arches (watermarked) paper, with full margins, signed by the artist in pencil. Printed by: Mourlot Freres,, Paris
Published by: The International Rescue Committee, 1966, Washington DC
Note: This comes from from the International Rescue Committee portfolio. In 1940, after Hitler’s Army swept through Europe and seized France, a New York journalist named Varian Fry was dispatched to Marseilles by the Emergency Rescue Committee, later to become the IRC. There he initiated a clandestine operation to rescue some of Europe’s most important cultural leaders whose names were on the Nazis’ list of most wanted. Often called the “American Schindler,” Fry was able to rescue over 1,500 writers, artists and intellectuals. 

Certificate of AuthenticityArt Brokerage 

LID146376

Joan Miro - Spain

Park West Artist: Blue Chip Spanish artist Joan Miró was a seminal figure in 20th-century avant-garde painting. The Spanish artist’s innovative use of line, organic shapes, and color represents a major contribution to Surrealism. Representative of his ability to conjure evocative space—Miró’s famed triptych Blue I,II,II (1961), portrays a floating world using only blue, orange, and black. “Little by little, I've reached the stage of using only a small number of forms and colors,” the artist reflected. “It's not the first time that painting has been done with a very narrow range of colors. The frescoes of the tenth century are painted like this.” Born on April 20, 1893 in Barcelona, Spain, the artist first studied commerce before defying his parents and enrolling at the art academy in his hometown. In 1919, Miró moved to Paris where he fell into the Surrealist milieu, befriending André Breton, Max Ernst, Jean Arp, and André Masson. Miró’s work profoundly influenced several American painters, including Arshile Gorky and Mark Rothko. The artist died at age 90 on December 25, 1983 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Today, his works are held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, and the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona, a museum dedicated to the artist and his legacy. Listings wanted