WILLEM DE KOONING
Untitled (Litho #4).
Lithograph on Arches, 1966. 600x390 mm; 23¾x15½ inches, full margins. Edition of 50. Printed at Hollander's Workshop, Inc., New York, with the blind stamp lower right. A very good, richly-inked impression of this scarce, early lithograph.According to Graham, "The mid-1960s was when the Old Masters of Abstract Expressionism were just starting to make major prints in New York. The artist, his wife, and his new dealer, Xavier Fourcade, grew concerned that De Kooning [1904-1997] was entering the print market too quickly and with too many prints. Therefore, the seven completed editions [including the current work] went into storage while long-range commercial options were considered. When De Kooning and Fourcade finally decided to enter the print market in a serious manner, five years later, the decision was made to release only the new editions developed and published by Knoedler. As a result, these seven editions remained unsigned, unpublished and virtually unknown. The first printed reference to any of these seven prints, the most important lithographs he made between 1960 and 1970, did not appear until 1990." Graham 42.Provenance: The printer Irwin Hollander, New York, with his collection red ink stamp verso.