Original limited edition collotype. After the original watercolour painting of 1943. Published in 1961 by the Oldbourne Press, London, and printed in Switzerland.
The colour collotype plates were produced by Graphische Anstalt W. Stierli, Zurich-Oerlikon, and Lichtdruck A G, Zurich.
Raoul Dufy was a French Fauvist painter. Born in the port town of le Havre in 1877, he developed a colourful, decorative style that became fashionable for ceramics and textile designs, as well as decorative schemes for public buildings. He is noted for scenes of open-air social events, as well as decorative schemes for public buildings.
He was also a draftsman, printmaker, book illustrator, scenic designer, furniture designer and a planner of public spaces.
Fauvism was an artistic style developed by a group of young French painters around 1904, one of whom was Dufy. It emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism. The movement as such lasted only a few years. Dufy used this technique for almost all of his works, but it can also be seen in some of the works by Matisse and Vlaminck.
Marcelle Oury was a great friend of Raoul Dufy. Following his death, she compiled and published a portfolio "Lettres A Mon Peintre" ("Letters to my Painter"), paying 'hommage' to him, using some of Dufy's own works, and other works by close artist friends of Dufy and Oury.
His works on paper are mostly in the medium of watercolour. In 1961, the Oldbourne Press in London, produced an 'hommage' to Dufy's watercolours and reproduced as collotypes, ten paintings from various points in Dufy's career. The publication was limited to 200 copies and this collotype comes from number .121.
Collotype is a photographic printing process that uses gelatin to create high-quality prints with a wide range of tones:
A photographic negative is projected onto a printing plate coated with light-sensitive gelatin. The gelatin hardens and becomes receptive to ink. Paper is laid on top and the image is printed on a press. Collotypes are known for their exquisite detail, from deep shadow to bright highlight, and their rich pigment ink. The process was invented by Alphonse Poitevin in 1855, and was the first form of photolithography. Collotypes are usually printed on thinner paper and typically do not have a plate impression. However, a worm-like pattern visible in the middle tones under high magnification can help identify a collotype.
