1979 Derrière le Miroir Special Annual Edition, 5 Issues

1979 Derrière le Miroir Special Annual Edition

5 Issues of Derrière le Miroir Featuring Lithographs by Chagall, Giacometti, Riopelle, Tapies, and Kienholz

Includes Rare Portfolio Case with Lithographic Cover by Alexander Calder

This is a very rare 1979 Derrière le Miroir Special Annual Edition published by Maeght Editeur, Paris containing individual copies of the 5 issues that were released in 1979. Each issue is a first edition and measures 11” x 15” with the contents loose as issued in a double page soft cover lithographic wrap. The 5 issues are housed in a portfolio case constructed of cloth covered boards with an illustrated cover of a lithograph by Alexander Calder. At the end of this listing are photographs of the portfolio case as well as the covers of each of the issues. The clamshell box and contents are in Very Fine condition. This is my highest rating on condition.

The 1979 Annual Edition is comprised of the following:

 Derrière le Miroir (DLM) No.232, Jean-Paul Riopelle, January, 1979, First Edition

9 original color lithographs with 6 being double page and 8 pages of black and white reproductions.Text by Thomas B. Hess.

Derrière le Miroir (DLM) No.233, Alberto Giacometti, March, 1979, First Edition

7 color reproductions and 4 black and white reproductions. Text by Michel Leiris and Michel G. Bourbon.

Derrière le Miroir (DLM) No.234, Antoni Tapies, May, 1979, First Edition

2 original double page color lithographs, 6 reproductions in color, and 12 black and white reproductions. Text by Julio Cortazar.

Derrière le Miroir (DLM) No.235, Marc Chagall, October, 1979, First Edition

2 original color lithographs with 1 being double page, 8 color reproductions with 2 being double page, and

12 black and white reproductions with 1 being double page. Text by Vercors.

Derrière le Miroir (DLM) No.236, Edward Kienholz, December, 1979, First Edition

1 color serigraph, 5 color reproductions, and 17 black and white reproductions. Text by Jean-Pierre Faye and Jorn Merkert.

About Derrière le Miroir (Behind the Mirror)

Derrière le Miroir (DLM) was an art magazine published between 1946 and 1982 by the French publisher and gallery owner Aimé Maeght. There were a total of 253 editions in 200 volumes. The magazine, itself designed as an art object presented in a large (11” x 15”) format, is illustrated with original lithographs as well as a number of reproductions. Poets and writers like Aragon, Beckett, Char, Eluard, Prévert, Queneau, Reverdy, Sartre, contributed with unpublished texts. Most of the major artists of the second half of the twentieth century created lithographs for DLM: Léger, Miro, Calder, Tapies, Chillida, Braque, Matisse, Giacometti, and above all Chagall. . To quote François Capon : "When the shores of our time will have receded too far for anyone to remember having lived them, there may well be young people to investigate the genesis of the art of the period with the same searching and sensitive look as our generation would have given Durand-Rule, Collard, Kahnweiller's log-book, if they had written one. In DLM they will find the chart of several decades, but along the border where art and poetry meet."

Displaying the Lithographs and Etchings

The lithographs in these editions are spectacular and many collectors decide to have them mounted, framed and hung as art work. It was customary during the period in which these editions were published for the purchaser to buy a table easel or music stand and display the lithographs and etchings on a rotating basis. I would strongly encourage the buyer of this item to carry on that tradition.