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Jacob Balgley, Rue � J�rusalem Etching How many of us have ever heard of Jacob Balgley, a direct contemporary of Marc Chagall? Not me, until I acquired a copy of Portrait de Jacob Balgley, written by his friend Claude Roger-Marx, and containing nine original etchings and four original drypoints. It was published in 1959, 25 years after the artist's death. The etchings and drypoints were printed on Vidalon wove paper by J.-J.-J. Rigal on the handpress of Mme Daragn�s, and the book forms part of a series of hommages to various artists published by Manuel Bruker, variously with the title Portrait de, �loge de, Visite �, or Tombeau de So-and-so. Each was published in an edition of 200 copies, the first 20 usually with an additional suite of the prints in the book. In the case of Portrait de Jacob Balgley, all of the books also had 9 additional prints loosely inserted at the back, four wonderful etchings and five rather pedestrian drypoints. Balgley seems to be a very interesting instan

This is one of my favourite Joan Mir� lithographs, mostly because of the strength of the image with its vivid colour and lively composition, but also because of its hilarious title. It was created in 1952 in atelier Mourlot for the art revue Verve, published by T�riade. The double issue in which it appeared (no. 27-28) is one of the most sought-after issues of this legendary publication, as it contains not just this astonishing work by Mir� but also Chagall's Visions de Paris (8 lithographs), Matisse's La tristesse du roi, L�ger's La partie de campagne, and additional lithographs by Braque, Henri Laurens, Alberto Giacometti, Andr� Masson, Francisco Bor�s, and Marcel Gromaire. Joan Mir�, The Dog Barking at the Moon Lithograph, 1952 The full title of the Mir� is lithographed in Mir�'s hand on the reverse of the print: Le chien aboyant � la lune reveille le coq le chant du coq picote le crane du fermier Catalan pos� sur la table � cot� du pourron. The dog barking at the mo