Lithograph after the 1916 painting "Femme Nue" (Female Nude) by André Derain, printed in 1958 by Atelier Maeght, one of the most renowned printmakers in history, producing prints of the highest quality.  Signed in plate lower right corner.  Presented in a 1 x 1 inch mahogany frame with a black bead, antique gold fillet, brown silk conservation mat, and conservation clear acrylic glazing.  Mat opening size: 14 1/2  x 11 inches; overall size with frame: 20 x 17 inches.  As with all of our framed art, the frame and framing materials are new.  The print is in excellent, near-mint condition, having never been previously displayed, and since framing is stored in a controlled environment away from light.  Due to his service in WWI paintings from this period by Derain are rare.  A passion for French and Italian primitives inspired the artist to use muted colors as can be observed in his more traditional pieces such as the painting on which this lithograph is based.  A very elegant display.
 
André Derain (1880 – 1954), was a French artist, painter, sculptor and along with Henri Matisse was a founder of Fauvism.  He began his "Gothic Period" in 1911, using austere forms and more muted colors than he had done so previously.  Derain then began to paint more traditional works, and came to be seen as a leader in Neo-Classicism.  Throughout the 1920s, he created his well-known paintings of performers and dancers.  After he won the Carnegie Prize in 1920, Derain’s work began to be exhibited widely around the world.  By the time the Germans occupied France during World War II, Derain was living in Paris.  He was part of a group of French artists who visited Nazi sculptor Arno Breker's exhibition in Berlin, so after the Liberation he was widely viewed as a collaborator and his reputation suffered.  In the years before his death, he concentrated on sculpting.