French Stacks
Linocut printed in color, 1982
Unsigned (see Arnera non signee stamp in photos)
From: Tramp Picture series
Created at Vallarius with the famous printer Jaime Arnera (their stamp veros)
A rare trial proof
Reference: Not in Walker
An impression of this image is in the collection of the British Museum
British Museum Curator's comments
Unrecorded in the standard Sultan print catalogue by Barry Walker. The print was produced in Vallauris in the South of France at the print workshop of Hidalgo Arnéra who worked with Picasso on his linocuts in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This impression is an unsigned printer's proof and comes from the archives of the Imprimerie Arnéra which was purchased from the heirs by the vendor Frederick Mulder.
Donald Sultan to Stephen Coppel, email 30 January 2014, artist's notes:
'These stacks were references to the Cypress trees, which were a continuum of the industrial, assuming a natural position in the industrial landscape. They were originally called “Urban Flowers,” and reference the art-noveau idea of bending nature to industry, but it worked in reverse.'
