Original Raoul Dufy Lithograph "L'Atelier", 1969

This is an original lithographic poster printed by Mourlot Frères in 1969 after Raoul Dufy's 1940 painting L'Atelier de l'Impasse Guelma — a work acquired by the noted French textile industrialist and collector Pierre Levy, and later donated to the Musée d'Art Moderne de Troyes, where it remains today. This lithograph was produced as part of a prestigious portfolio celebrating the Levy collection, with Mourlot Frères approached specifically for the printing by master printer Charles Sorlier — the craftsman who had worked most closely with Dufy during his lifetime, and who understood his chromatic palette with unmatched fidelity. The image represents Dufy in his own studio at No 5 Impasse de Guelma, in the heart of Montmartre — a self-portrait of an artist at work, in the space where some of the most luminous paintings of the 20th century were made.

Raoul Dufy (1877–1953), born in Le Havre and trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, was one of the great colourists of the 20th century — a painter whose work seems always to be celebrating something: the sea, the races, the concert hall, the studio, the garden in full sun. Shaped early by Fauvism and Cézanne, he developed a uniquely personal language in which bold flat colour and a quick, joyful calligraphic line coexist in a kind of perpetual holiday. His decorative sensibility — equally at home in textiles, ceramics, tapestries, and stage design — made him one of the most versatile and beloved artists of his generation. His work is held in the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and institutions across the world.

The Impasse de Guelma studio was Dufy's creative home for decades — a narrow Montmartre cul-de-sac where he worked surrounded by the musical instruments, fabric samples and objets trouvés that populate his paintings. To see it rendered by Mourlot and Sorlier, on Arches paper, in the chromatic warmth that defined his entire practice, is to be admitted into the most intimate space in his art.

The poster is in overall good condition, with a light humidity trace visible along the upper edge — an honest mark of age that does not affect the image. Printed on Arches paper and presented unframed. See pictures for full condition details.

A luminous and intimate piece — Dufy in his own studio, printed on Arches by the master who knew his colours best.