Lithograph on vélin paper. Paper Size: 14.173 x 11.181 inches. Excellent condition. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. From the folio, Nicolas de Staël: Peintres d'aujourd'hui, 1960. Published by Fernand Hazan, Paris; printed by Daniel Jacomet et Cie, Paris, 1960. Excerpted from the folio (translated from French), CCCLXXV examples of this album, numbered from I to CCCLXXV, are accompanied by an unpublished board reproducing a glued paper of the artist and pulled on the presses of Daniel Jacomet, in Paris. The illustrations of this album, completed in May 1960, were made by Bussière and Nouël, and drawn by l'Imprimerie Lecot. The text was drawn by l'Imprimerie Damien, and the binding made by F.I.A.P. according to the models of Marcel Jacno. NICOLAS DE STAEL (1914-1955) was a French painter of Russian origin known for his use of a thick impasto and his highly abstract landscape painting. He also worked with collage, illustration and textiles. He sold several paintings to important collectors including Duncan Phillips of the Phillips Collection. He had considerable success in the United States, and England in the early 1950s. In 1950 Leo Castelli organized a group exhibition at the Sidney Janis Gallery in New York City that included him. In 1952, he had one-man exhibitions in London, Montevideo, and in Paris. In March 1953, he had his first official one-man exhibition at M. Knoedler & Co. in New York City. The show was both a commercial and critical success. In 1953 he had an exhibition at the Phillips Gallery in Washington DC, (known today as The Phillips Collection in Washington DC) and they acquired two more of his canvasses. His new paintings marked his departure from abstraction and a return to figuration, still-life and landscape.