Signed Leonor Fini, 'Sphinx, Illeria'. Editioned Lithograph, circa 1972
Leonor Fini (Argentian/French, 1907-1996), 'Sphinx, Ileria'. Color lithograph, circa 1972. Numbered 57/175 lower left and signed lower right in pencil.

Leonor Fini is considered one of the most important women artists of the mid-twentieth century. Her career, which spanned some six decades, included painting, graphic design, book illustration, product design, including the the renowned torso-shaped perfume bottle for Schiaparelli’s Shocking; as well as set and costume design for theatre, ballet, opera, and film. Fini was born in Argentina in 1907. Her mother spirited her away to her Italian homeland of Trieste. For the first seven years of her life, Fini was disguised as a boy whenever she left home to foil the kidnap attempts of her father. Raised by intelligent women and artistic personalities, it was not long before she decided to become an artist. By the time she relocated to Paris in 1931, she was already an intimate of Giorgio de Chirico and his circle. In paris she was quickly 'adopted' by Max Ernst and the surrealists who surrounded him. Fini became a sensation not only as an artist but also as a personality. The list of people she knew, collaborated with, or who were influenced by her over the following decades is itself a remarkable inventory of the thinkers and artists of the 20th century: Jean Cocteau, Man Ray, Leonora Carrington, Salvador Dali, Joseph Cornell, Dora Maar, Anna Magnani, Albert Camus, Jean Genet, Federico Fellini, John Huston, and Georges Bataille, to name only a few.

Fini came to incorporate many different lines of inquiry into her art. These were questions of beauty and age; of dark figures in conference that emerge out of murky waters and mottled landscapes; of an inexplicable silence that persists among those who attempt communication; and of the true nature of love.
Sheet - 29 1/4" high x 22" wide. Frame - 36" high x 28.75" wide.

Overall very good. Not examined out of frame, though no visible tears or repairs.