Victor VasarelyLa Mañana – Tomorrow. 1950

Original screenprint in colours. 1950. With Vasarely's script signature printed in the image. From the first edition of 25 issued as a separate plate apart from the album edition of 130. Inspired by the poetry of the leading Venezuelan writer Guilliermo Meneses. Issued in the album 'Venezuela' by Gallery Denise René, Paris 1956. Edition of 25 of the separate prints and 130 of the bound album. Vasarely The Graphic Work (online), albums section no 13.

Drawn and printed at the Atelier Arcay, Paris - the inspired screenprinting studio run by the leading emigré Cuban painter and printmaker Wilfredo Arcay.

Beautiful impression with glowing colours (faintest traces of early mounting). On cream light wove paper. Image: 305 x 235mm.

This work is the earliest of the 12 compositions, all inspired by Meneses poetry. 'La Mañana', illustrated above, was drawn in 1950 but Vasarely did not finish the others and the series until 1956. Vasarely's work on the prints was greatly encouraged by Denise René, the Parisian gallery owner who was the driving force in the initiation and development of the whole kinetic art movement over the period from 1950 to the 1970's. 'La Mañana' is a key - and beautiful - work capturing the lyricism of the poetry and at the same time encapsulating Vasarely's sense of the interaction of defined forms and flat colour which was to be at the centre of his later geometric optical compositions.