SCARCE BERTRAND DORNY (FRANCE, 1931-2015) MID-20TH CENTURY VINTAGE PENCIL 

SIGNED COLOR GEO-ABSTRACT/ MINIMALIST AQUATINT PRINT, LIMITED EDITION #42/50, TITLED 'BRIS de VERDE' (GREEN BREEZE) FEATURING HEAVILY EMBOSSED ARTIST'S COTTON RAG PRINTMAKING PAPER, & JOAN E. KAPLAN, 525 EAST 86TH ST., NYC PAPER GALLERY TAG AFFIXED to VERSO, in ORIGINAL MODERNIST PERIOD POLISHED CHROME FRAME with FINE WOVEN LINEN, CUT MATBOARD

[In original period Modernist polished chrome frame 

& original cut white mat presentation]

(Circa 1968-1976)

Mid-20th century European & French vintage geo-abstract printmaking and antecedents to Minimalism

   

DIMENSIONS:

Frame size: 21 ½" Width x 27 ¼" Height

Image size in cut mat window: 17 ¼" Height x 13" Width 

Weight: 5 lbs.

DESCRIPTION: 

Offered for your review and consideration, is this thrilling and very exciting, recently discovered in a finely appointed downtown Boston, Massachusetts estate, absolutely wonderful and very compelling, Geo-Abstract/Minimalist color aquatint etching on artist woven cotton rag paper by the well-listed French Modernist painter and printmaker Bertrand Dorny (1931-2015.) The artist print is untouched and unopened, remaining in its original Modernist period, polished chrome frame, with choice and costly woven linen (grass) cut matting. Both the deep-profile chrome frame and linen matting are clean. The aquatint etching is heavily embossed, with the paper deeply impressed by the weight of the printmaking press, making it at once tactile and imbued with plasticity. This Geo-Abstract/Minimalist work, is an antecedent to and foreshadows the European and later American preoccupation and obsession with the essential, discarding window dressing and paring everything back to their Minimalist, primary component parts, which truly at the end of the day, define all things. Signed by the artist in pencil in cursive writing 'Dorny' in the lower right print margin and titled in pencil along the lower/center print margin 'Bris de Verde' (Green Breeze) by the artist. The limited, small edition number 42/50, is written in pencil by the artist in the lower left print margin. In very well-preserved overall vintage condition, with only some slight gathering and waffling of the print's paper surface. It however, has bright, clear, crisp, vivid, saturated and nearly undiminished colors, which provide for an incredibly lush and rich color spectrum, which is discretionary, conceptually limited and artistically intentional. This Modernist aquatint print somehow, transports us into another world, using another kind of visual language. It is a work by a printmaking master, the late French mid-20th century Modernist painter and celebrated printmaker Bertrand Dorny. Exhilarating.

CONDITION: 

Very Good to Excellent overall vintage condition.