FAUTRIER Jean. LA COLLINE, Original multiple, 1950. Oil, gouache and sand on lithographed paper mounted on canvas, signed in ink lower right. 450 x 640 mm. Numbered '5/300' on a label on the back. Following the Aeply process that he had developed with his wife Jeannine Aeply, initially to produce copies of classical works, Fautrier used it to create his own lithographs. works, Fautrier produced a series of 3 paintings destined to become the first multiple originals, These were exhibited in November-December 1950 at Billiet-Caputo in Paris. A few copies were produced originally planned for 300, but the lack of success was such that the project ended there. The actual print run was limited to around fifteen copies. "Did Fautrier talk to you about his plans? You know that after having invented a reproduction process so perfect that the original looks fake (I tried it out at the Museums Council, they all got it wrong) he imagined, applying this process to his work, not to use the original. this process to his work, he imagined never making another painting but, in one go, 500 to 1,000 (which would enable to sell them for 1,200 frs each instead of 50,000 and 60,000 - and, he said, would save painting, and painters. " Jean Paulhan, letter to Joë Bousquet, 27 August 1950.