The name of this lithography is "La THUNDERBIRD". Size of the printed surface is 74 cm x 58 cm (white borders excluded). I purchased this piece of art in 1986 or 87 from Daniel Authouart. Its number is 17/175. It was designed by Authouart upon an original oil on canvas painted in 1986. This picture tells a love story of the 1950s. A wife or perhaps a girlfriend is sadly saying goodbye as her husband or lover flies off to some far away place.The plane is the legendary DC-3, the first profit generating trans-world airliner and a great part of aviation history. In her autobiography, Lauren Bacall tells a story of when she and Humphrey Bogart ordered a Thunderbird the very first day they rolled off the production line. Immediately they called their friends, movie stars and the like, to tell them to "come right over and see our beautiful new Thunderbird" and everyone answered: "We already bought one, too!". The model for the woman in this piece is Authouart's wife.
Note the car's licence plate "AD1943" standing for "Authouart Daniel born 1943, and the plane's ID "BG1950" where "G" standing for the initial of his wife Geneviève born 1950.
Quand des avions traversent les toiles d'Authouart, ils pointent leur nez à travers ses souvenirs lointains depuis longtemps enfouis, ou parfois à travers des pensées proches et encore vivantes. Avant tout, ils encouragent le spectateur à faire décoller son imagination.
When airplanes sometimes cross Authouart's paintings, they point their noise through his remote and long-buried memories, or sometimes close and still vivid souvenirs. Above all, they encourage the onlooker's imagination to take off.
