Derrière le miroir

History

In October 1945 the French art dealer Aimé Maeght opens his art gallery at 13 Rue de Téhéran in Paris. His beginning coincides with the end of Second World War and the return of a number of exiled artists back to France.

The magazine was created in October 1946 (n°1) and published without interruption until 1982 (n°253). Its original articles and illustrations (mainly original color lithographs by the gallery artists) were famous at the time.

The magazine covered only the artists exhibited by Maeght gallery either through personal or group exhibitions. Among them are (in alphabetical order): Henri-Georges Adam, Pierre Alechinsky, Bacon, Jean Bazaine, Georges Braque, Pol Bury, Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall, Roger Chastel, Eduardo Chillida, Alberto Giacometti, Vassily Kandinsky, Ellsworth Kelly, Fernand Léger, Lindner, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Jacques Monory, Pablo Palazuelo, Paul Rebeyrolle, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Saul Steinberg, Pierre Tal-Coat, Antoni Tapies, Raoul Ubac, Bram van Velde.

Among the authors publishing essays and poems are (in alphabetical order): Guillaume Apollinaire, Marcel Arland, André Balthazar, Yves Bonnefoy, André du Bouchet, André Breton, Joan Brossa, Jean Cassou, René Char, Pierre Descargues, Jacques Dupin, Georges Duthuit, Frank Elgar, Claude Esteban, Charles Estienne, André Frénaud, Stanislas Fumet, Jean Grenier, Marcel Jouhandeau, Jacques Kober, Michel Leiris, Georges Limbour, Henri Maldiney, Jean Paulhan, Gaëtan Picon, Francis Ponge, Jacques Prévert, Raymond Queneau, Pierre Reverdy, Michel Seuphor, Jean Tardieu, Lionello Venturi, Pierre Volboudt, Christian Zervos.

Following the death of Aimé Maeght in September 1981, the Derrière le Miroir n°250 was designed as a tribute to the work of Aimé Maeght and his wife Marguerite (who had died before him in 1977). This special 112-pages issue was named "Hommage à Aimé et Marguerite Maeght" and was intended to be the last one. As it summarises all contents of the previous issues, it was finalised only in August 1982. In the meantime, n° 251 to 253 (the very last number) were published respectively in February, May and June 1982.

Numbering system and identification

Although the issue numbers go from n°1 to n°253, only 200 issues were published. From the 200 issues, 157 were single issues, 33 are double-issue (n°11–12 Bram et Geer van Velde, n°14–15 Joan Miró,...) and 10 triple issues (n°36-37-38 Sur quatre murs, n°57-58-59 Miró,...)

For the issue identification:

Year 1946–1947: n°1 → n°6

Year 1948: n°7 → n°14–15

Year 1949: n°16 → n°24

Year 1950: n°25–26 → n°34

Year 1951: n°35 → n°42

Year 1952: n°43 → n°51

Year 1953: n°52 → n°60–61

Year 1954: n°62–63 → n°71–72

Year 1955: n°73 → n°79-80-81

Year 1956: n°82-83-84 → n°92–93

Year 1957: n°94–95 → n°101-102-103

Year 1958: n°104 → n°111

Year 1959: n°112 → n°117

Year 1960: n°118 → n°121–122

Year 1961: n°123 → n°130

Year 1962: n°131 → n°135–136

Year 1963: n°137 → n°141

Year 1964: n°142 → n°149

Year 1965: n°150 → n°155

Year 1966: n°156 → n°162

Year 1967: n°163 → n°169

Year 1968: n°170 → n°175

Year 1969: n°176 → n°182

Year 1970: n°183 → n°189

Year 1971: n°190 → n°195

Year 1972: n°196 → n°200

Year 1973: n°201 → n°206

Year 1974: n°207 → n°211

Year 1975: n°212 → n°216

Year 1976: n°217 → n°221

Year 1977: n°222 → n°226

Year 1978: n°227 → n°231

Year 1979: n°232 → n°236

Year 1980: n°237 → n°242

Year 1981: n°243 → n°249

Year 1982: n°250 → n°253

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Deluxe editions

From the 200 issues, 98 were also published in a deluxe edition (in French: "éditions de tête") on heavy paper such as chiffon de la Dore, chiffon de Mandeure, vélin d'Arches, vélin de Lana ou vélin de Rives. The majority of the deluxe editions were signed by the artist on the justification page. The deluxe editions are normally limited to 150 numbered copies (and a few hors commerce), excepting for the following issues: