Lithograph on velin paper. Paper size: 15 x 11 inches. Excellent condition. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Notes: From Derriere le miroir, N deg 129, 1961. Published by Aime Maeght, Editeur, Paris; printed by Editions Pierre a Feu, Galerie Maeght, Paris. Excerpted from a Christie's, New York lot essay, The life span of Derriere le Miroir was thirty-five years. Publication began in 1946. Aime Maeght, initiator of Derriere le Miroir, had already made few attempts to start publications illustrated with fine printed lithographs in colours in the years prior to the launch of Derriere le Miroir. The name, Derriere le Miroir was suggested by Jacques Kober, manager of Galerie Maeght. The gallery had opened in 1945; the first number of Derriere le Miroir was released a year later. For this first issue Geer van Velde was invited to create lithographs to illustrate the publication. The lithographs in the first issue was printed by Mourlot, Paris. The first three issues of Derriere le Miroir were unsuccessful for Maeght as far as the edition size-the initial print-runs were far too large. From 30,000 for the first issue, the number was taken down to 10,000 for numbers two and three, until Derriere le Miroir number four was published in an edition of 1500. Maeght instituted a policy whereby unsold issues were recycled and used for the fabrication of new paper for the coming editions-this served to both conserve resources and also usually result in ultimate edition sizes far less than 1,500. With number four, the permanent format for Derriere le Miroir was established. Lithographs in colours were key; text was limited to comments on the featuring artist's exhibition taking place in the Galerie Maeght, and this catalogue format was defining to Derriere le Miroir. Galerie Maeght took on the leading role in Paris and presented all main artists including Braque, Matisse, Chagall, Leger, Bonnard, Chillida and many more. So too did Derriere le Miroir. The idea of a magazine was meanwhile still on the mind of Aime Maeght. He found an insert as a solution. Two, and later four, pages of art review were inserted from 1952 onwards. In 1968 this find had ripened to independency and the dream of Aime Maeght was now a tangible fact named l'Art vivant. Derriere le Miroir was on it's own again. Over 250 issues in a row. At that point publisher Aime Maeght wished to make a mark with the publication of an hommage to all who once contributed to the magazine which came in the form of issue number 250, but was delayed by the death of Aime Maeght. It was published after number 253 in 1982 and became a tribute to Aime and Marguerite Maeght and 35 years of friendship with artists and poets. The era of Derriere le Miroir was closed with that final publication. FRANCOIS FIEDLER (1921-2001), born Fiedler Ferenc, was a Czechoslovakia-born French painter and printmaker. He was an artist in the Aime Maeght stable, which included Marc Chagall, Alberto Giacometti, Issues, Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro.

Excellent condition