Geer Van Velde, Composition, Derrire Le Miroir, Lithograph

Condition: Pre-Owned
Lithograph on vlin paper. Paper size: 15 x 22 inches. Excellent condition, with centerfold, as issued. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Notes: From Derrire le miroir, N 240, 1980. Published by Aim Maeght, diteur, Paris; printed by ditions Pierre Feu, Galerie Maeght, Paris. Excerpted from the volume (translated from French), This issue of Behind the Mirror illustrates two original lithographs (pp 4-5 and 18-19) was shot on the presses of lImprimerie Arte, Adrien Maeght for the cover and lithographs and lImprimerie moderne du Lion in Paris There was a luxury edition on vlin de Lana with 150 examples, numbered and signed by the artist. Composition Industries Graphiques; Photographers Claude Gaspar and Michel Nguyen; Galerie Maeght Model, Jean-Claude Paint. Excerpted from a Christies, New York lot essay, The life span of Derrire le Miroir was thirty-five years. Publication began in 1946. Aim Maeght, initiator of Derrire 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 Derrire le Miroir. The name, Derrire le Miroir was suggested by Jacques Kober, manager of Galerie Maeght. The gallery had opened in 1945; the first number of Derrire 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 Derrire le Miroir were unsuccessful for Maeght as far as the edition sizethe 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 Derrire 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 editionsthis 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 Derrire 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 Derrire le Miroir. Galerie Maeght took on the leading role in Paris and presented all main artists including Braque, Matisse, Chagall, Lger, Bonnard, Chillida and many more. So too did Derrire le Miroir. The idea of a magazine was meanwhile still on the mind of Aim 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 Aim Maeght was now a tangible fact named l'Art vivant. Derrire le Miroir was on it's own again. Over 250 issues in a row. At that point publisher Aim 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 Aim Maeght. It was published after number 253 in 1982 and became a tribute to Aim and Margurite Maeght and 35 years of friendship with artists and poets. The era of Derrire le Miroir was closed with that final publication.

GEER VAN VELDE (1898-1977) was a Dutch painter. Van Velde was the second son of Willem Adriaan van Velde, then owner of a small case of inland waterway transport fuelwood and charcoal on the Rhine and Hendrika Catharina von der Voorst, illegitimate daughter of an earl. Catharina and her four children (Neeltje, Bram, Geer, and Jacoba) were abandoned by Willem Adriaan after the bankruptcy of his business, leaving them in misery. Moving frequently, they eventually settled in The Hague in 1903. In 1910, at the age of twelve, Geer became an apprentice designer in the firm with Schaijk & Eduard H. Kramers. Kramers encouraged Geer and his brother Bram van Velde to develop their interest in painting and funded both to a certain degree. The brothers moved to Paris; their experience of the 1925 Arts Dcoratifs exhibition had motivated the move. Geer rented his own studio in 1926. He had a close relationship to writer Samuel Beckett; their common friend, art patron Peggy Guggenheim, suggested it was a homoerotic relationship. Beckett bought some of van Velde's paintings and wrote about them.
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