Original Poster Henri Matisse "Madame De Pompadour" 1951 - Mourlot

This is an original lithographic poster created in 1951 by Henri Matisse and printed by Mourlot Frères in Paris — and it is not merely an original: it is a first printing, the rarest and most coveted state of this edition. In this earliest impression, Matisse's original outlines and small compositional marks around the text remain fully visible — the traces of the artist's own hand on the stone, before he refined and adjusted them for all subsequent printings. Every copy printed after this first run had those marks corrected. This one preserves them exactly as Matisse left them.

Henri Matisse (1869–1954) was at the very end of his career in 1951 — confined largely to his studio in Nice, he had turned to cut-outs and lithography as his primary means of expression, producing work of extraordinary purity and economy of line. His collaboration with Mourlot Frères was one of the great pairings of artist and printer in the 20th century: Mourlot's master craftsmen understood Matisse's line with an intimacy that allowed his most delicate intentions to survive the printing process intact. The posters produced from this partnership are among the most sought-after multiples in the history of modern art.

The subject — Madame de Pompadour, the celebrated mistress of Louis XV and one of history's great patrons of the arts — was entirely in keeping with Matisse's late obsession with grace, femininity and the decorative tradition of French painting. In Matisse's hands, she becomes less a historical figure than a study in line and presence.

The poster is in overall good condition (B+), with small tears professionally restored along the sides and a small fold restored in the bottom left corner — honest signs of age that in no way affect the image. See pictures for full condition details.

A rare and document-quality piece — Matisse at his most refined, Mourlot at its most faithful, in the only printing that shows the artist's hand exactly as it was.