Jean Carzou (1907-2000) - Soleil Rouge

Jean Carzou (1907-2000) — Imaginary/Fantastic Citadel under a blazing sun — Original lithograph, 1972 — Artist’s proof very limited to only XIII/XX (13/20)

Original color lithograph by Jean Carzou (Aleppo, 1907 – Marsac-sur-l’Isle, 2000), French painter, engraver and designer of Armenian origin, member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts (Institut de France) from 1977.

Signed and dated “72” in pencil at the lower right by the artist.
Mounted as “Artist’s proof on Japan”, numbered XIII/XX at the lower left (print run limited to 20 artist’s proofs).
Technique: original lithograph on pearlescent Japanese paper.
Framed under glass, double mat, gold-era frame.
Overall excellent condition.

The work represents one of the most characteristic and sought-after subjects in Carzou’s output during the 1970s: an imaginary fortified city, bristling with a multitude of arrows and turrets, spread under a stylized sun with linear rays, in the artist’s characteristic blazing palette of red and orange.

Jean Carzou illustrated works by Ernest Hemingway, Albert Camus and Eugène Ionesco, and designed sets and costumes for the Paris Opera and the Comédie-Française. His works are in the collections of the Centre National d’Art Moderne (Centre Pompidou), the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, and many international museums (Hermitage, Adelaide, etc.). A museum fully devoted to him exists in Manosque (Centre Carzou).