Raymond Moretti (1931–2005), The Vitruvian Man (Homage to Leonardo da Vinci) / L'homme de Vitruve (Hommage à Léonard de Vinci), 1982

Artist-made lithograph, framed, measuring 58 x 78 cm;
Limited edition, numbered in pencil 13/150 on the reverse;
Signed in pencil by Moretti in the lower right corner;
The renowned Parisian publishing house Armand & Georges Israël (which frequently published limited-edition luxury portfolios by, among others, Salvador Dalí and Jean Cocteau),
printed on manual presses at the Atelier Grapholith (Paris)—run by master printer Claude Jobin.
Moretti personally applied the composition to special lithographic stones or technical plates (a black-and-white version on paper featuring Moretti’s characteristic expressive brushstrokes and ink lines, contrasting with a precise drawing reminiscent of a Leonardo da Vinci sketch).
Raymond Moretti is a figure who can be described as a “volcano of energy” in 20th-century art. If Picasso was the king of modernism, Moretti was his most dynamic successor. The artists not only knew each other but were also friends, and Moretti was considered one of the few who could keep up with Picasso’s energy. Moretti and Picasso worked together in studios in the south of France. Picasso once said of Moretti that he had “fire in his fingers.” In this work, that fire is visible in every black line that crosses the sheet.