Constantinople - Jeune Fille et Chat. by Marie Laurencin, 1883-1956

Marie Laurencin, 1883-1956
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Constantinople - Jeune Fille et Chat.

Original etching in brown-black ink. 1907. Signed in pencil. Dated 1907 in pencil. One of a very few proofs only (less than 10). There was no issued edition. Probably printed at the studio of Delatre (where Picasso was printing his first etchings at the same date).
Extremely rare.
Ref: Marchesseau - Laurencin L'Oeuvre Gravée no 11.

Extremely fine rich impression hand printed with wiped plate tone. On heavy cream wove paper. Excellent condition; the faintest suggestion of time discoloration on the reverse. Full (?) margins. Sheet: 16 1/8 x 11 7/8ins. Plate: 7 x 5 1/8ins (178x132mm).

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This exceptional work dates from the earliest period of Laurencin?s work, the year after she had first been introduced into the circle of the painters at the Bateau-Lavoir studio and had first met Picasso.

After drawing lessons at the beginning of her 20?s at the Art School in Sèvres Laurencin?s fascination with the art of the Symbolists in the 1880?s and 90?s led her into avant-garde painting circles in Paris. There her beautiful drawing, and her beautiful appearance, caught the eye of Guillaume Apollinaire, the inspired symbolist writer who introduced her to Braque, Derain and Picasso and the other painters and writers who worked at the ramshackle Bateau Lavoir studios in Montparnasse. Laurencin?s own inspiration lay in the poetic and ethereal evocation of Symbolism. Apollinaire, whose key writing was in many ways to bridge the gap between Symbolism and Surrealism, brought that inspiration to a peak. Their love affair and the influence of his writing were to remain at the root of Laurencin?s art throughout her life.

In 1907-10 Laurencin?s art was at a peak of fervent and poetic inspiration. Her use of line and the stylisation of her forms achieved an evocative power which, in lyrical terms, has a power and visual impact as strong as the ?expressionism? to which her painter friends were turning. It was in the period of 1906 to 10 that Laurencin made her first etchings, possibly taught the technique by Picasso. ?Tete de Jeune Fille?, above, is one of her outstanding prints of this first period, summing up the whole atmosphere of her art. Only printed in a tiny edition impressions are of extreme rarity.