BONHAM'S TO SELL RARE HAND COLOURED MADONNA PRINT BY MUNCH

ONE OF THE EARLIEST KNOWN HAND-COLOURED IMPRESSIONS OF A 20th CENTURY ICONIC IMAGE, EDVARD MUNCH'S MADONNA, IS BEING OFFERED FOR SALE AT BONHAM'S PRINT SALE ON 13.JULY. IT IS ESTIMATED TO FETCH BETWEEN £500,000 TO £700,000. THE MUSEUM QUALITY IMPRESSION, WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN IN PUBLIC, IS SIGNED AND DATED 1895, THE YEAR OF ITS CREATION. THE ARTIST REWORKED HIS ORIGINAL CONCEPT SEVERAL TIMES BETWEEN 1895 AND 1902 AND THE IMAGE EXISTS IN SEVEN DISTINCT STATES. THIS PRINT IS FROM THE VERY FIRST STATE AND IS, ARGUABLY, THE EARLIEST HAND-COLOURED IMPRESSION. IT SHOWS THE MADONNA IN YELLOW AND WHITE SET AGAINST A HALO OF BLUE, GREEN AND RED. MUNCH WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR SOME OF THE MOST RADICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL ADVANCES IN PRINTMAKING AND THIS IMPRESSION DATES FROM A TIME WHEN HE TURNED INCREASINGLY TOWARDS GRAPHIC ART AS A MEANS OF EXPRESSION. ONLY A FEW HAND-COLOURED IMPRESSIONS OF MADONNA ARE KNOWN TO EXIST, MOST OF WHICH ARE NOW IN PUBLIC COLLECTIONS, AND IT IS VARY RARE FOR A PRINT OF SUCH HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE TO APPEAR ON THE OPEN MARKET. ALTHOUGH THERE ARE SIX OIL PAINTINGS OF MADONNA, ALL PREDATING THE PRINT, NONE OF THEM HAVE A BORDER WHICH MADE THE LITHOGRAPHIC IMAGE SO CHALLENGING AT THE TIME. THE WORK IS BEING SOLD ON BEHALF OF THE ESTATE OF THE ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONIST ARTIST FRANK AVRAY WILSON (1914 – 2009).