SPENDER (Stephen),
HAYTER (Stanley William),
KANDINSKY (Wassily),
MIRÓ (Juan) &
BUCKLAND WRIGHT (John)
Fraternity.
NINE ORIGINAL ENGRAVINGS SIGNED, INCLUDING KANDINSKY AND MIRO
SPENDER (Stephen),
HAYTER (Stanley William),
KANDINSKY (Wassily),
MIRÓ (Juan) &
BUCKLAND WRIGHT (John)
Fraternity.
Very good, in the particularly scarce slipcase which includes an additional print after Stanley William Hayter on upper cover, slipcase browned and chipped at extremities, text very lightly foxed, two plates with a single spot of foxing to margin, not affecting image.
The publication of Fraternity, alongside its sister work Soldarité of the previous year, was conceived by Hayter as means of bringing worldwide attention to the plight of children left orphaned by the horrors of the Spanish Civil War, with sales of the portfolios being donated to their cause. The portfolio centers around Stephen Spender’s poem The Fall of The City, translated into french by Louis Aragon as Chute d’une cite, with nine artists invited by Hayter to contribute work.
Since its founding in 1927, Hayter’s Atelier 17 had established itself has one of the leading printmaking studios in Europe and was at the forefront of a revival in the art of etchng and engraving, with a particularly important reputation among surrealist and avant-garde artists of the time. The publication of Fraternity in 1939 came only shortly before the fall of Paris to the occupying forces of Nazi Germany forced Hayter and the studio to flee to New York, making the title of Spenders poem especially poigniant.
