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Updated 11/18/07
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René Magritte (Belgian, 1896-1967)

Arp / Bourgeois / Coutaud / Delvaux / De Chirico / Ernst / Fini / Hayter / Höch / Klee / Lam / Magritte
Masson / Matta / Miró / Picasso / Richier / Seligmann / Sutherland / Tanning/ Toyon / Wunderlich
For many people, Magritte's works are the first to come to mind when Surrealism is mentioned. Magritte created a world of well-dressed men in bowler hats (a staple of pre-war European dress still happily embraced by Brussels' corps of business men on trains) around whom odd things happen (toys trains coming out of walls, houses with faces, a pipe bearing the legend, "this is not a pipe") without ever breaking their compsure. In Magritte's world, the unconscious is fully conscious as in dreams and we simply see without emotions a new world existing all around us all of the time. Magritte's works are to be found in every important collection of modern art. Magritte prints, however, are rare and scarce: he came late to printmaking and he only made two lithographs and about 18 etchings between 1962 and his death. Recently Magritte's estate released 3 previously unknown Magritte etchings, all signed in the plate, in an edition of 950 impressions on Rives paper printed by the Atelier Dutrou in Paris.

Bibliography: General works: There is a multi-volume catalgoue raisonné in progress written by David Sylvester and Sarah Whitfield, René Magritte: Catalogue Raisonné (Antwerp: Mercatorfonds for Philip Wilson, London, 1993) Sylvester is also the the author of several studies of aspecs of Magritte's work including Magritte (London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1969) and Magritte (London: Thames & Hudson, 1992). The bibliography of works on Magritte is enormous; selected entries include Richard Calvocoressi, Magritte (London: Phaidon Press, 1994); James Thrall Soby, Magritte (New York: Doubleday, MOMA, 1965); Harry Torczyner, Magritte: Ideas and Images (NY: Abrams, 1977); Sarah Whitfield, Magritte (Exhibition catalog, London: The South Bank Centre, 1992). Kaplan, Gilbert E. and Timothy Baum.Kaplan, Gilbert E. and Timothy Baum. Gilbert E. Kaplan and Timothy Baum prepared a catalogue raisonné of Magritte's prints (The Graphic Work of René Magritte) in 1982 which now needs to be updated.
Les bijoux indiscrets / The talkative jewels. Original color lithograph, 1963. 75 signed and numbered impressions, 20 HC impressions, and an edition of c. 2000 impressions published in the deluxe art review, XXe Siecle in 1963. This is his first lithograph, one of twenty lithographs and etcings he finished before his unexpected death in 1966. The work is illustrated in Gilbert Kaplan, ed. Surrealist Prints (NY: Abrams, 1997) and reproduced on the front cover of the catalogue raisonné of Magritte's prints, The Graphic Work of René Magritte, 1982. A very important print. Image size: 244x310mm. Price: $1850.
Le Viol / The Rape. Original etching, 1934. 950 numbered impressions signed in the plate lower right plus 50 HC impressions. All are also signed with the blind stamp of the Succession Magritte (The Magritte Estate). Printed at Atelier Dutrou in Paris on Velin de Rives. This is the original publication of this etching. Image size: 155x137mm. Price: $1250.
The blind stamp of the Magritte Estate serves to autheticate the etching above and the two below and appears on each of the etchings. Printed at Atelier Dutrou in Paris on Velin de Rives. This is the original publication of these three etchings.
Les Amants / The Lovers. Original etching, 1928. 950 numbered impressions signed in the plate lower right plus 50 HC impressions. All are also signed with the blind stamp of the Succession Magritte (The Magritte Estate). Printed at Atelier Dutrou in Paris on Velin de Rives. This is the original publication of this etching. Image size: 121x130mm. Price: $1250.
La Trahison des images / The Treachery of Images. Original etching, 1952. 950 numbered impressions signed and dated in the plate plus 50 HC impressions. All are also signed with the blind stamp of the Succession Magritte (The Magritte Estate). Printed at Atelier Dutrou in Paris on Velin de Rives. This is the original publication of this etching. Image size: 88x132mm. Price: $1250.
René Magritte–Harry Torczyner, Letters Between Friends (NY: Abrams, 1994). Letters translated into English with reduced-size French versions parallel to the translations. Trade format paperback. Magritte and Torczyner became close friends after Magritte painted his portrait; Torczyner, a lawyer in New York, watched out for Magritte's business affairs in the US and published a study of Magritte after his death, Magritte: Ideas and Images (NY: Abrams, 1977). An interesting look into two friends and the business end of art. Mint, shrink-wrapped copy. List: $19.95.; Price: $12.
Gilbert Kaplan, ed. Surrealist Prints (NY: Abrams, 1997). The best book on Surrealist printmaking available. It includes several Magritte prints.Large format hardcover. $45.

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