John BANTING.

Lot 124
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Estimation :
6000 - 8000 EUR
Result without fees
Result : 8 200EUR
John BANTING.
12 Blue-Prints. No place [London], 1931-1932. A folio album of 12 cyanotypes: publisher's portfolio in orange half-percale, brown cardboard covers with, on the first, a title printed in capital letters on a paper strip and, on the inner lining, printed on a paper strip "Number", with handwritten numbering. A very rare album, complete with 12 original cyanotypes by John Banting, all signed and justified by the painter. Print run announced at 100 copies, of which only about 15 were actually made: this one numbered 3. Only two or three complete copies are listed, and the highest number seen on the prints is No. 14. John Banting's blue-prints offer images in negative (white on blue): they are printed on white paper sheets mounted on folio sheets (46.6 x 30 cm) of strong brown paper. Each one is signed and justified by the painter. Four of them are also captioned. The captioned plate The Oracle from copy no. 11 of the British Art Center at Yale is printed in reverse. A surrealist album in the footsteps of Max Ernst and Man Ray. "John Banting was the first, and perhaps the only true Surrealist that this country produced. The blueprints that he made from 1931 onwards are extraordinary, both in their imagery and in their technique, which had nothing whatever to do with any tradition of printmaking in this country but was instead derived from Man Ray's photograms and Max Ernst's drawings" (F. Carey & A. Griffiths, Avant-Garde British Printmaking 1914 - 1960, British Museum, London, 1990, p. 90). Born in London, John Banting started out as a graphic artist and theatre set designer. He came to Paris in 1930 and came into contact with André Breton and the Surrealists. A fine copy, complete with the rare original portfolio bearing the title printed on a paper strip on the first board.
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