1940s H. Rousseau, Original "Portrait of Apollinaire and Marie Laurencin" Lithograph

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A lovely vintage original offset lithograph, full-color print, of painting "The Poet and His Muse", also known as "Portrait of … Read more A lovely vintage original offset lithograph, full-color print, of painting "The Poet and His Muse", also known as "Portrait of Apollinaire and Marie Laurencin" (1909) by Henri Rousseau. Signed in the print at the lower right corner: "Henri Rousseau 1909". Printed on one side. Hand tipped-in on a board of heavy paper. Numbered: 9. Information regarding the original painting will be found by lifting the piece. Comes from a rare art folio published by Albert Skira, in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1940s. First Limited Edition. Excellent condition - minor age wear on the the board, never framed.

Overall 11"W x 15"H
Image 7"W x 10.60"H

Guillaume Apollinaire (1880 – 1918) was a French poet, writer and art critic of Polish-Belarusian descent, a man who shaped the Parisian Avant-Garde, a friend of Pablo Picasso, Giorgio de Chirico, Robert Delaunay, Louis Marcoussis, Paul Guillaume. Apollinaire had a five-years affair with Marie Laurencin (1883 – 1956), a French artist and printmaker. She became an important figure in the Parisian avant-garde as a member of the Cubists associated with the Section d'Or.

Once, on September 7th of 1911, French police arrested poet Guillame Apollinaire for stealing the Mona Lisa. Apollinaire hadn’t actually taken the iconic treasure; however, a few days prior to his arrest, he had attempted to anonymously return a pair of ancient Iberian busts stolen for him and Pablo Picasso by their associate, Géry Piéret. Picasso, who modeled the central figures of “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” on the bust Piéret procured for him, was also brought in for questioning. Miraculously, neither the painter nor the poet was charged with receiving stolen goods. If they had been, their status as foreigners in the French Republic would most certainly have resulted in their deportation. Luckily, lack of evidence and pressure from the Parisian art and literary establishments forced the police to release Apollinaire six days later — thereby consigning the episode to one of the wilder footnotes of art history rather than to one of its major chapters. See less