Chanson ou Le Rideau Noir. The Song or The Black Curtain. by Marie Laurencin, 1883-1956

Marie Laurencin, 1883-1956
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Chanson ou Le Rideau Noir. The Song or The Black Curtain.

Original etching in black-brown ink. 1921. Signed in pencil. Numbered (30) from the total edition of 55 impressions. This impression in the third state with the image completed and the curtain darkened. Probably printed either by the artist herself or at the Atelier Delâtre. Printed between 1922 and 1924.
Ref: Marchesseau - Laurencin L'Oeuvre Gravé no 50 (iii)

Very fine strong impression with a fine ink tone on the plate. On pale cream laid paper. generally excellent condition; some slight signs of time discolouration on the reverse only. Full (?) margins. Sheet: 11 1/8 x 9ins. Plate: 6 5/8 x 5 1/2ins (170x132mm)

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Le Chanson dates from just after the end of the First War, and it is a particularly strong example of the transition in Laurencin's art from the symbolist imagery of her first Bateau Lavoir period to the rhythmic flowing line of the late 20's and 30's. It is drawn with a powerful consciousness of shape, and with the pattern of the forms and of the densities of tone used to create as much of the atmosphere of the image as the drawing itself. Such images as this show Laurencin's work at its most inventive. It is revealing that Laurencin worked this plate through three varied states, each further developing the tonal contrast in the curtain so as to reinforce the effect of the pattern of the tones. This impression is with the completed work.

The edition was printed, probably by Laurencin herself, in groups of impressions over the period from January 1922 to May 1924.