The Magic Flute

This lithograph was printed in the Mourlot printing studio (Imprimerie Mourlot, Mourlot Freres and Atelier Mourlot) in France. Francois Mourlot founded it in 1852. It started off producing wallpaper. Later, his son Jules Mourlot had the studio make chocolate labels, as well as ledgers, maps and stationary. In the 1920s, Jules’ son, Fernand Mourlot, converted one of the locations into a studio dedicated to printing fine art lithography. In 1937 Bonnard and Henri Matisse made print there. In 1937 the studio also began a long collaboration with the editor Triade, who founded the legendary art review Verve. In 1945, Pablo Picasso elected the Mourlot studio for his return to the lithographic medium. Set up in a corner of the shop, it would soon become his home for several months at a time.