Nicolas de Staël (1914-1955) - Lot 256

Nicolas de Staël (1914-1955) Night at the Parc des Princes. 1952. Lithograph. 500 x 390. F. Woimant and A. de Staël 100. color print. A very fine, fresh proof on heavy ivory vellum, signed and dated in pencil. Minimal light foxing. Thin strip of gummed paper along upper edge on verso. Full margins. Very rare. Edition of 15 proofs (plus a few artist's proofs). At the end of March [1952], Nicolas de Staël and his wife Françoise attend the France-Sweden match, at night, at the Parc des Princes. At the Salon de Mai, he exhibits his large canvas Parc des Princes. "We were at the very top of the stands, in the middle of the crowd of enthusiastic fans. The goalkeeper of the French team at the time was very famous. The noise, the movement of the crowd, the pitch-black backdrop against which the footballers in action stood out, illuminated by the floodlights, no doubt all contributed to arousing his interest. After the match, Nicolas de Staël stretched a canvas on a large stretcher. (Remarks by Françoise de Staël, March 1992, in F. de Staël, et al, Nicolas de Staël, catalog raisonné de l'œuvre peint, Paris, Ides et Calendes, 1997, p. 130).