This is a lithograph by Henri Matisse, a French artist well known for his use of color and fluid draftsmanship. His early works brought him notoriety as a Fauve painter, and he often drew and painted from nature. He worked as a graphic artist and book illustrator, and during the Second World War he was treated for cancer and confined to a chair and bed, so created paper cut-outs called decoupage. The lithograph depicts a woman in a demure pose and was used as a cover or poster to advertise the Matisse, Dessins-Gravures Rares exhibition at Galerie 65 in Cannes, France in September 1955. It is marked "Mourlot Lithographe" in the lower left corner of the image, so at one pojnt in the life of this lithograph, it was part of the Mourlot catalogue for Matisse's works. In the 1930's Mourlot became the largest publisher of artistic posters in France; previous to that, artists had to rely on craftsmen to have their works reproduced in prints. If you have a lithograph with the Mourlot name on it, grab it. The overall size is 23 1/4 x 20 in. wide and the sight size is 20 1/2 x 17 1/4 in. wide.