Dolori Sacrum by Waroquier ( aft.) wood engraving 1950 Estampes

Dolori Sacrum or Mass Grief  by Henry de Waroquier shows a Christ like face in black red blue and white. The interpretation could be seen as blood running down the face which in fact looks peaceful but gives the viewer a powerful feeling of torture and pain simply by the artists use of color and design. An extremely bold image. One of 12 wood engravings from the portfolio “Estampes” by Robert Rey, 1950. Edited by L’Image Litteraire, Nice/Rafael and Finelli-Feugere, New York and printed by Gerard Angiolini, Paris. Rey was a professor of History of Art in the “Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts” in France. A rare and important work by some of the most important 20th century artists, the complete portfolio includes 12 wood engravings with pouchoir enhancements and an essay about each artist, a title page, an introduction by professor Rey, table of contents and text. Each print is hand signed and numbered by the artist (46/150) and countersigned by Robert Rey. The participating artists are Braque, Chagall, Desnoyer, Dufy, Laurencin, Matisse, Picasso, Utrillo, Van Dongen, Vlaminck and Waroquier. There is an extra folder containing 31 decompositions of the Marc Chagall print. Text and prints are all in very good condition with very light scattered foxing throughout some of the sheets.