"Malinche" by Jean Charlot, Fr.-Amer., (1898-1979)

Offset Color Lithograph. 1933, ed. 3,500, M. 116, Adams 63, 6-1/8 x 8-1/16, signed in the plate and below in pencil, annotated "extra plate", on cream laid paper, toned at the margin edges, the colors fresh. This print represents a milestone in the history of color lithography in the west; the result of a collaboration in Los Angeles between the artist Jean Charlot and the master printer Lynton R. Kistler to produce a complex high quality color lithograph using the commerical offset lithographic process. "Malinche" was used to illustrate the prospectus for "The Picture Book", Charlot's landmark project containing 32 prints executed in the same manner, and to convince Kistler's father, on who's presses the book was produced, that it was indeed possible.This print is reproduced and discussed in detail in both Clinton Adams "American Lithography 1900-1960" and David Acton's "A Spectrum of Innovation - Color in American Printmaking 1890-1960". Though the edition would appear to be very large, signed impressions of this important print seem to be scarce in the market.