Bidspirit auction | MAGRITTE RENE: (1898-1967)

MAGRITTE RENE: (1898-1967) - MAGRITTE RENE: (1898-1967) Belgian surrealist artist. An excellent vintage signed 5.5 x 8 photograph of Magritte standing in a three-quarter length pose, holding a cigarette in one hand, alongside his famous surrealist sculpture This is a Piece of Cheese (1936) consisting of a small, framed oil painting of a slice of ripe Brie cheese housed within a glass cheese dome, the lid of which he raises with one hand. Signed ( ´Magritte´ ) by the artist in black fountain pen ink to the verso, further adding the words ´en Souvenir de quand il Albionnait´ (Translation: ´In memory of when he was at Albionnait´ ) and date, 11th April 1938, beneath his signature. VG Albionnait is a linguist illusion (much like the artist´s visual ones) and appears to have been a playful made-up verb, possibly a pun on ´Albion´, the ancient and poetic name for Great Britain. The present photograph is reproduced in the Museum of Modern Art´s publication Magritte - The Mystery of the Ordinary 1926-1938 edited by Anne Umland, and is described as one of a series of publicity photographs created for Magritte´s solo exhibition in London in 1938, a landmark event that officially established his reputation in Great Britain. The exhibition was organised by his close friend and fellow Belgian Surrealist, E.L.T. Mesens, who had just relocated to England to direct the gallery alongside British artist Roland Penrose.