ART-063 James Coignard — "Red Beam," Large Embossed Color Etching, 29/60, Signed in Graphite, Deckle Edge, Framed

James Coignard (French, 1925–2008)
Red Beam
Embossed and Colored Etching on Deckle-Edged Handmade Paper
Edition 29/60 | Numbered lower left & signed lower right in graphite
Paper: 59 in. × 39 in. | Sight: 60.25 in. × 39.75 in. | Framed: 69 in. × 48 in.
Applied gilt painted wood moulding on deep-grained wood frame
Provenance: Manhattan Modern Art Collector

A monumental and richly textured embossed color etching by James Coignard — one of the supreme masters of the carborundum etching technique and among the most significant French printmakers of the postwar era. Red Beam is a large-scale work: at nearly five feet tall and over three feet wide, it commands a wall with real authority. The combination of embossed relief, rich color, and the sensuous deckle-edged handmade paper — a Coignard hallmark — gives the work a three-dimensional, almost sculptural presence that photographs cannot fully capture. Numbered 29 from an edition of 60 and signed in graphite, this is a serious collector's impression in very good condition.

James Coignard (Tours, 1925 – Mougins, 2008) trained at the École des Arts Décoratifs in Nice and spent his career working on the French Riviera, in Paris, and internationally. The pivotal moment in his career came in 1968, when his friend Henri Goetz introduced him to the carborundum etching technique — a process also taught to Joan Miró, Antoni Clavé, and Max Papart, and one that allowed Coignard to build extraordinary depth, texture, and color into his prints in a way impossible through conventional intaglio methods. Coignard became the technique's greatest virtuoso, and his large-format embossed etchings on handmade papers are considered his most important works. His prints and paintings entered the collections of over twenty major museums, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris. He died in Mougins in March 2008; his ashes were scattered off the coast of Cannes, near the Îles de Lérins.

This example carries the distinguished provenance of a Manhattan Modern Art Collector — the kind of informed, city-based collection from which the most carefully chosen works tend to emerge. The gilt and deep-grained wood frame is period-appropriate and presentation-ready.

Details:

• Artist: James Coignard (French, 1925–2008)
• Title: Red Beam
• Medium: Embossed and colored etching on deckle-edged handmade paper
• Edition: 29/60 (numbered lower left; signed lower right in graphite)
• Paper: 59 in. × 39 in. | Sight: 60.25 in. × 39.75 in. | Framed: 69 in. × 48 in.
• Frame: Applied gilt painted wood moulding on deep-grained wood frame
• Provenance: Manhattan Modern Art Collector
• Condition: Very good

A commanding large-format Coignard — embossed, richly colored, and sculptural in presence. One of the finest works from a master of postwar French printmaking.