Raoul Dufy - La Fanfare (The band) 1949 large original color lithograph School Prints

Raoul Dufy: La Fanfare / The Band. Large-format original color lithograph, 1949, for Brenda Rawnsley's "School Prints" edition. Printed by WSCowell Ltd., London. Signed in the plate lower right. Size 48.5 x 76 cm.
Rare! Most copies were distributed as teaching material in English schools in the post-war period. Very few copies remain that are not worn from school use; the present sheet shows only minimal signs of age.

Literature: - Tate Britain, accession no. P01703; - Hermann Wünsche, "School Prints. A London Art Edition from the 1940s". Königswinter 1986, pp. 64–65.

Brenda Rawnsley (July 31, 1916 – June 25, 2007) was a British arts activist who developed and led the innovative School Prints program, which provided primary schools with artwork. She was decorated for her services during the Second World War.
In 1946, she sent letters to numerous British artists: “We are producing a series of autolithographs… for use in schools to give schoolchildren an understanding of contemporary art.” In 1947, Rawnsley flew to France and convinced Pablo Picasso (Composition, 1948), Georges Braque, Henri Matisse, Fernand Léger, and Raoul Dufy to produce lithographs for the School Prints program.