Original lithograph by Andre Beaudin, entitled "Composition", from the limited edition catalogue (2000 copies), "Prints from the Mourlot Press".
The catalogue was produced by Mourlot in 1964 to coincide with a major exhibition of lithographs held in that year.
The exhibition was held in honour of the deaths of three great artists in 1963, Braque, Villon and Cocteau, and was conceived as "a manifestation of Franco-American friendship.
André Beaudin was a French painter born in 1895. He studied at the School of Decorative Arts in Paris and developed his individual style during the 1930’s. He became regarded as one of the leading painters of the École de Paris. At the start if his career, Cubism was the dominant force in art but Beaudin felt that it left little artistic freedom to the artist. He was one of the first amongst the younger generation of artists in France to react against Cubism and to develop a more pictoral yet still abstract style. He relished the freedom to paint intuitively, creating lyrical harmonious compositions for which he is internationally renowned.
He was awarded the Grand Prix National des Arts in 1962 and had a long series of exhibitions in France and abroad until his death in 1979.
