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Henri Laurens — Exterminée
Henri Laurens

Exterminée

1947

Henri Laurens's 1947 etching "Exterminée" presents a compact yet charged composition that reflects the sculptor's deep investment in the figure as a site of formal and emotional inquiry. Working at a moment when Laurens had long since established himself as one of the foremost Cubist-inflected sculptors in France, this print demonstrates his remarkable facility for translating the volumetric logic of his three-dimensional work into the linear economy of the etched plate. The title, meaning "exterminated" or "destroyed," lends the image a gravity entirely consistent with the postwar atmosphere in which it was conceived, and collectors will find in it a resonance that extends well beyond its modest dimensions. Pulled in an edition of just fifty, the print carries Laurens's signature and represents the kind of intimate, closely held work that circulated among serious collectors and fellow artists during his lifetime. At 17.7 by 12.5 centimeters, it rewards close looking, the fine lines of the etching revealing a sustained dialogue between figuration and abstraction that defined Laurens's mature output. The work is currently offered through Skinner, presenting a measured opportunity to acquire a signed, editioned print from a sculptor whose standing in the canon of twentieth-century European modernism remains firmly established. Pieces of this period and sensibility appear with relative infrequency on the secondary market, making this an acquisition worth serious consideration.

Medium
Etching on paper
Overall
Signed
Yes

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About this work

Henri Laurens, Exterminée, 1947

Henri Laurens's 1947 etching "Exterminée" presents a compact yet charged composition that reflects the sculptor's deep investment in the figure as a site of formal and emotional inquiry. Working at a moment when Laurens had long since established himself as one of the foremost Cubist-inflected sculptors in France, this print demonstrates his remarkable facility for translating the volumetric logic of his three-dimensional work into the linear economy of the etched plate. The title, meaning "exterminated" or "destroyed," lends the image a gravity entirely consistent with the postwar atmosphere in which it was conceived, and collectors will find in it a resonance that extends well beyond its modest dimensions. Pulled in an edition of just fifty, the print carries Laurens's signature and represents the kind of intimate, closely held work that circulated among serious collectors and fellow artists during his lifetime. At 17.7 by 12.5 centimeters, it rewards close looking, the fine lines of the etching revealing a sustained dialogue between figuration and abstraction that defined Laurens's mature output. The work is currently offered through Skinner, presenting a measured opportunity to acquire a signed, editioned print from a sculptor whose standing in the canon of twentieth-century European modernism remains firmly established. Pieces of this period and sensibility appear with relative infrequency on the secondary market, making this an acquisition worth serious consideration.

Medium
Etching on paper
Dimensions
overall: 17.7 x 12.5 cm
Year
1947
Edition
of 50
Signed
Hand-signed by the artist
Seen at
Skinner

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Collected by

Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris