Raymond Moretti (1931–2005), Composition XIII, 1977

Silkscreen print (artist-made); BFK Rives France vellum paper (watermark); 42 x 65 cm (composition); 56 x 75 (sheet); signed in pencil by the artist in the lower right and numbered 13/150.

Raymond Moretti is a figure who can be described as a “volcano of energy” in 20th-century French 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.

RAYMOND MORETTI was an expressive French draftsman, painter, and sculptor with a rich and diverse body of work. In France, he is known for his spectacular installations and decorations, while the wider world valued his illustrations above all else, especially his evocative portraits of jazz legends. He was a great lover of music, particularly jazz. He created portraits of many famous musicians, such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Thelonious Monk. In the 1960s, he illustrated a series of 12 sought-after jazz LPs titled *Moretti Verve*.

This work represents Raymond Moretti’s second great fascination: Futurism, the City, and the Cosmos.