Beau Geste Suite: Beau Geste I

1989

lithograph on Georges Duchêne Moutarde paper
22 x 15 in. (55.9 x 38.1 cm)

Signature

Signed "RM" in pencil upper right; some impressions signed lower right

Inscriptions

Numbered in pencil lower right; artist's chop mark lower left

Edition

100 impressions, numbered 1-100
25 impressions, numbered I-XXV

Proofs

15 AP, numbered I/XV-XV/XV
1 BAT
HC (unrecorded)
3 PP
1 shop proof
TP (unrecorded)

Publisher

Artist; released by Éditions Daniels Papierski, Paris, and Waddington Graphics, Ltd., London

Printer

Bruce Porter, assisted by David Lantow, Trestle Editions Limited, New York

Production Sequence

2 colors printed in 2 runs from 2 aluminum paltes: 1. sanguine – plate; 2. black – plate

Concordance

B 417

Comments

The Beau Geste Suite is a series of six lithographs that Motherwell created with Bruce Porter of Trestle Editions Limited. The lithographs were made during the preparation of Marcelin Pleynet's book Robert Motherwell and their appearance was scheduled to coincide with the publication of the book. The French phrase beau geste, a graceful or magnanimous gesture, was chosen by Motherwell to express his appreciation to Pleynet for writing a text on his work as the inaugural volume in the series Histoire et Philosophie de l'Art.

A boxed set of the lithographs with six poems by Pleynet titled Beau Geste pour Lucréce was published as a separate format in an edition of 100 with 25 impressions numbered I/XXV-XXV/XXV and 15 artist's proofs numbered I/XV-XV/XV. The edition was distributed as follows: impressions numbered 1-100 by Éditions Daniel Papierski, Paris; impressions numbered I-XXV by Waddington Graphics Ltd., London.

The location of the signature and numbering on all of the Beau Geste lithographs varies.

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