Color collotype on BFK Rives
France, circa 1950
After Jacques Villon (1875-1963) – French printmaker influenced by Cubism and Abstract Impressionism
‘Shéherazade’
Signed in pencil lower right ‘Jacques Villon’
Signed in plate ‘Jacques Villon’
Numbered in pencil lower left ‘75/150’
Published by Guy Spitzer, with blind stamp lower left and printed label verso
Full margins with deckled edges; matted
Plate dimensions: 18 ? x 21 ½ in. (45.7 x 54.5 cm.)
Sheet dimensions: 22 x 30 in. (55.9 x 76.2 cm.)
Overall dimensions: 29 x 32 ¼ in. (73.7 x 81.9 cm.)

Queen Schéherazade was the wife of the Persian King, Shahryar who would marry a new woman each day after beheading the last in fear of the adultery he experienced with his first wife. Queen Scheherazade won his love by telling him stories every night but keeping the end until the morning so he would grant her another day. This is the story of One Thousand and One Nights, orThe Arabian Nights which was also a symphonic suite and ballet composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1888, titledSchéherazade. Jacques Villon was a master experimental printmaker, friend of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Manuel Robbe and brother to Marcel and Raymond Duchamp, this is Villon’s tribute to Queen Schéherazade.

Executed circa 1950, this color collotype on BFK Rives is signed and numbered seventy-five from an edition of one hundred and fifty. There is a one inch tear in the lower right sheet edge well away from the image.

Jacques Villon (French, 1875-1963)

Jacque Villon was born as Emile Méry Frédéric Gaston Duchamp in the upper Normandy commune of Damville. His family were all artistically inclined, and he was allowed to study art in Montmartre while enrolled for legal studies at the University of Paris in 1894. He soon devoted himself solely to art and embarked on a career in commercial graphic media for ten years. After assisting with the first Salon d’Automne in 1903, Villon studied at the Académie Julian from 1904 to 1905. As with many others of the time, he was inspired by various art movements like Cubism and Abstract Impressionism. In 1906, Villon moved to the western Parisian suburb of Puteaux to concentrate on printmaking and was extremely prolific, creating over six hundred works in total. Although removed from the bustling creative center of Montmartre, leading artists and critics frequented his home and Villon was a vital force in forming the Section d’Or group which first exhibited in 1912 at the Galerie la Boétie. He reached international recognition in 1913 when he successfully exhibited at the renowned Armory Show in New York. Following a solo exhibition in 1944 at the Galerie Louis Carré, he was named Chevalier, Officer, and Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur in 1938, 1947, and 1954, respectively. He was also bestowed the prestigious Carnegie Prize in 1950 and the Grand Prix at the Venice Biennale in 1956. Internationally represented, his works can be found in major institutions like the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Kunstmuseum Basel.