Lot 193

20th C. Michel Delacroix "L'Artiste" Naif Paris Quayside" - Hand Signed Lithograph

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Lot 193
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20th C. Michel Delacroix "L'Artiste" Naif Paris Quayside" - Hand Signed Lithograph
20th C. Michel Delacroix "L'Artiste" Naif Paris Quayside" - Hand Signed Lithograph
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20th C. Michel Delacroix "L'Artiste" Naif Paris Quayside" - Hand Signed Lithograph

Estimate: $800 - $1,200

Starting Bid: $350

(0 Bids)
by Artemis Fine Arts
August 6, 2026 9:00 AM MDT
Live Auction
686 S. Taylor Avenue
Suite 108
Louisville, CO, US 80027

Michel Delacroix (French, b. 1933). "L'Artiste" color lithograph, ca. 1980s. Artist's Proof. Hand-signed with "E.A." (Epreuve d'Artiste or Artist's Proof) below plate. A quiet stretch of quay unfolds in the naif idiom that made Michel Delacroix famous: ochre-fronted shops and cafes line the embankment above, their facades dissolving into the still water below in a shimmering, slightly melancholic reflection. Rowers glide across the surface, a plein-air painter sets his easel before a small audience of children, and figures in period dress populate the cobbles. The doubled composition, real city above and watery mirror beneath, gives the print its title. Executed as a color lithograph and hand-signed in pencil below the image, this impression is marked "E.A." (epreuve d'artiste), an artist's proof set aside outside the numbered edition. The palette is muted and tender, gaslit Paris remembered rather than observed, the past rendered as a gentle, ordered enchantment. Size of print: 15.5" W x 20" H (39.4 cm W x 50.8 cm H); of frame: 26.75" W x 32" H (67.9 cm W x 81.3 cm H).

This composition has circulated under several alternate titles, appearing variously as "Reflections," "L'Artiste," and "Marianne." The present impression is an artist's proof (epreuve d'artiste), drawn outside the numbered edition for the artist's own use, a class of impression collectors prize for its proximity to the printmaker's hand.

About the artist: Michel Delacroix, born in Paris in 1933, is among the most recognized practitioners of the Naif tradition in postwar French painting. Educated at the Lycee Louis-le-Grand and later the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, he worked through various styles before committing, around age 35, to the naive idiom that would define his career.

His subjects are drawn almost entirely from memory: the streets of Paris as they appeared during the German Occupation, when he was a child of seven. The wartime city, stripped of automobiles and electric light, struck the young Delacroix not as terror but as enchantment, a metropolis thrown backward in time, quieter and more intimate than it had any reason to be. That paradox, beauty found inside historical catastrophe, became the emotional engine of his entire body of work. He has called it "the one great adventure of my life."

Delacroix has exhibited in more than 300 solo shows across the United States and been shown in Europe and Japan. His work entered permanent collections including the Fonds National d'Art Contemporain in Paris and the Musee International d'Art Naif. In 1994 the U.S. Olympic Committee named him an Official Artist of the 1996 Centennial Games. He received the Grand Prix des Amateurs d'Art in Paris (1973), the Grand Prix de la Cote d'Azur in Cannes (1976), and the Premier Prix de Sept Collines in Rome (1976). He is the father of painter Fabienne Delacroix and the late gallerist Bertrand Delacroix (1965-2015).

Provenance: private Thornton, Colorado, USA collection, acquired July 2015 via Neale and Sons, Saratoga, California, USA; ex-S.R. Holman Gallery, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, USA

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Item # 203120

  • Condition: Mounted behind glass in custom matte and frame with suspension wire on verso for display. Has not been examined outside of glass, but lithograph and frame both appear to be in excellent overall condition. Hand-signed with "E.A." (Epreuve d'Artiste or Artist's Proof) below plate.

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Bid Increments
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$0 $299 $25
$300 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 $199,999 $10,000
$200,000 + $20,000