“The Monkfish Medallion,” Roger Bezombes (1913–1994), c.1970s color lithograph with embossing, 22×28 in., pencil-signed & numbered 22/150.
“The Monkfish Medallion” is a vibrant 1970s original color lithograph with embossing by French painter, sculptor, and medalist Roger Bezombes. Signed and numbered 22/150 on a 22×28 in. sheet, the work fuses Bezombes’ celebrated fish imagery with his passion for medals and coins, combining bold blocks of color, collage-like fragments, and raised medallion impressions into a striking mid-century modern statement piece.
Artwork description
Composition & imagery
The image is structured in two stacked panels divided by a vertical band of embossed roundels:
Upper panel: intense red and blue fields with floating collage-like shards that suggest sea creatures or fragments of ceramic, each inset with tiny black-and-white medallion faces.
Central band: a column of embossed circular seals and hands in white paper relief, one bearing a stylized face with the phrase “LE SILENCE EST D’OR” (“silence is golden”), echoing Bezombes’ fascination with medals and tactile surfaces.
Lower panel: a large, stylized fish form built from overlapping color blocks—ice blue, crimson, teal, black—its eye and body studded with medallion motifs. Along the bottom edge, a row of hanging black “charms” or fish medallions dangle like a ceremonial necklace.
The whole composition reads as a whimsical ex-voto fish or totem, part culinary object, part protective talisman.
Style, period, medium & technique
Period: c. 1970s, aligning with Bezombes’ series of fish and medallion works.
Medium: original color lithograph with embossing on fine wove paper, 22×28 in., with full margins.
Technique: multiple lithographic color runs create the saturated blue and red fields; collage-like passages are simulated with overprinted textures. A separate embossing pass forms the raised roundels and hand motifs, directly referencing Bezombes’ parallel career as a medalist.
Signature: signed “Roger Bezombes” in red pencil lower left and numbered 22/150 lower right (placement may vary slightly).
Inspiration & story
Fish, medals, and travel recur throughout Bezombes’ work—from bronze fish medals to his famous Air France posters celebrating global gastronomy and exotic destinations.
In “The Monkfish Medallion,” Bezombes imagines a fantastical fish encrusted with charms, coins, and stamped emblems, as if dredged from an underwater treasure hoard. The embossed faces and hands allude to votive offerings and protective amulets; the intense color fields recall Mediterranean light and Fauvist palettes that deeply influenced him.
The result is playful yet sophisticated: a celebration of food, travel, and talismanic objects rendered with the graphic punch of 1970s French printmaking.
Artist Biography (Roger Bezombes)
Roger Bezombes (1913–1994) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, medalist, and designer known for his saturated color, exuberant imagery, and innovative medals and posters.
Early life & training
Born in Paris in 1913, Bezombes entered the École des Beaux-Arts in 1934, studying under Paul Baudoüin and René Barotte. He spent long hours copying master paintings at the Louvre and befriended painter Maurice Denis, who introduced him to the work of Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Matisse—artists whose bold color and decorative abstraction profoundly shaped his sensibility.
Awards & early career
In 1936, Bezombes won a major prize that enabled travel to North Africa, followed shortly by the Grand Prix de Rome. He exhibited at the leading Paris salons—Salon d’Automne, Salon des Indépendants, Salon des Tuileries—through the late 1930s and 1940s, and earned several national prizes in the immediate postwar period.
Mature work: painting, medals & design
Bezombes’ paintings are characterized by lush, saturated color and stylized figures and still lifes, often inspired by Mediterranean and global cultures.
From the 1950s onward he became highly regarded as a medalist. He produced an extensive body of bronze medals featuring animals, fish, figures, and whimsical reliefs. His fascination with roundels, seals, and talismanic imagery naturally translated into his printmaking, especially in the 1960s–70s.
In the early 1980s, Air France commissioned Bezombes to design a suite of posters promoting world destinations and gastronomy. These bright, surreal collages—printed at Atelier Mourlot—became iconic examples of mid-century and late-modern French design.
Teaching & exhibitions
Beginning in 1954, Bezombes taught at the Académie Julian in Paris. He exhibited internationally throughout his career, including major retrospectives at the Musée de l’Athénée, Château Grimaldi, Musée de la Monnaie, Musée Réattu, and numerous shows across France, Europe, Japan, and the United States.
Style & legacy
Bezombes’ art merges painting, printmaking, collage, and medallic sculpture. His hallmarks include:
brilliant, saturated color
playful fish, fruit, totems, and talisman-like motifs
embossing, relief, and tactile surfaces
a synthesis of surrealism, design, and decorative arts
He remains celebrated for his ability to unify fine art and decorative art, and for transforming everyday symbols—fish, medals, masks—into spirited modern compositions.
Roger Bezombes (1913–1994), “The Monkfish Medallion,” c.1970s, color lithograph with embossing on paper, 22×28 in., pencil-signed and numbered 22/150. Provenance: Mitch Morse Gallery; Artfind Gallery, Washington, DC.
ARTFIND GALLERY – CERTIFICATE OF VALUE & AUTHENTICATION
Artist: Roger Bezombes (French, 1913–1994)
Title: The Monkfish Medallion
Date: c. 1970s
Medium: Original color lithograph with embossing on paper
Dimensions: 22 × 28 in. (sheet)
Edition: 22/150
Signature: Hand-signed “Roger Bezombes” in pencil; numbered lower margin
Condition: Vintage, with typical minor handling consistent with age
Provenance:
Artist / original publisher
Mitch Morse Gallery, NYC/Europe
Artfind Gallery, Washington, DC (current owner)
Artfind Gallery certifies that this work is, to the best of our knowledge, an authentic original lithograph by Roger Bezombes from a limited edition of 150 impressions.
Provenance chain
Roger Bezombes / Original Publisher, France (c.1970s)
Mitch Morse Gallery, acquired in New York / Europe
Artfind Gallery, Washington, DC — current owner
“The Monkfish Medallion,” Roger Bezombes (1913–1994), c.1970s color lithograph with embossing, 22×28 in., pencil-signed & numbered 22/150.
“The Monkfish Medallion” is a vibrant 1970s original color lithograph with embossing by French painter, sculptor, and medalist Roger Bezombes. Signed and numbered 22/150 on a 22×28 in. sheet, the work fuses Bezombes’ celebrated fish imagery with his passion for medals and coins, combining bold blocks of color, collage-like fragments, and raised medallion impressions into a striking mid-century modern statement piece.
Artwork description
Composition & imagery
The image is structured in two stacked panels divided by a vertical band of embossed roundels:
Upper panel: intense red and blue fields with floating collage-like shards that suggest sea creatures or fragments of ceramic, each inset with tiny black-and-white medallion faces.
Central band: a column of embossed circular seals and hands in white paper relief, one bearing a stylized face with the phrase “LE SILENCE EST D’OR” (“silence is golden”), echoing Bezombes’ fascination with medals and tactile surfaces.
Lower panel: a large, stylized fish form built from overlapping color blocks—ice blue, crimson, teal, black—its eye and body studded with medallion motifs. Along the bottom edge, a row of hanging black “charms” or fish medallions dangle like a ceremonial necklace.
The whole composition reads as a whimsical ex-voto fish or totem, part culinary object, part protective talisman.
Style, period, medium & technique
Period: c. 1970s, aligning with Bezombes’ series of fish and medallion works.
Medium: original color lithograph with embossing on fine wove paper, 22×28 in., with full margins.
Technique: multiple lithographic color runs create the saturated blue and red fields; collage-like passages are simulated with overprinted textures. A separate embossing pass forms the raised roundels and hand motifs, directly referencing Bezombes’ parallel career as a medalist.
Signature: signed “Roger Bezombes” in red pencil lower left and numbered 22/150 lower right (placement may vary slightly).
Inspiration & story
Fish, medals, and travel recur throughout Bezombes’ work—from bronze fish medals to his famous Air France posters celebrating global gastronomy and exotic destinations.
In “The Monkfish Medallion,” Bezombes imagines a fantastical fish encrusted with charms, coins, and stamped emblems, as if dredged from an underwater treasure hoard. The embossed faces and hands allude to votive offerings and protective amulets; the intense color fields recall Mediterranean light and Fauvist palettes that deeply influenced him.
The result is playful yet sophisticated: a celebration of food, travel, and talismanic objects rendered with the graphic punch of 1970s French printmaking.
Artist Biography (Roger Bezombes)
Roger Bezombes (1913–1994) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, medalist, and designer known for his saturated color, exuberant imagery, and innovative medals and posters.
Early life & training
Born in Paris in 1913, Bezombes entered the École des Beaux-Arts in 1934, studying under Paul Baudoüin and René Barotte. He spent long hours copying master paintings at the Louvre and befriended painter Maurice Denis, who introduced him to the work of Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Matisse—artists whose bold color and decorative abstraction profoundly shaped his sensibility.
Awards & early career
In 1936, Bezombes won a major prize that enabled travel to North Africa, followed shortly by the Grand Prix de Rome. He exhibited at the leading Paris salons—Salon d’Automne, Salon des Indépendants, Salon des Tuileries—through the late 1930s and 1940s, and earned several national prizes in the immediate postwar period.
Mature work: painting, medals & design
Bezombes’ paintings are characterized by lush, saturated color and stylized figures and still lifes, often inspired by Mediterranean and global cultures.
From the 1950s onward he became highly regarded as a medalist. He produced an extensive body of bronze medals featuring animals, fish, figures, and whimsical reliefs. His fascination with roundels, seals, and talismanic imagery naturally translated into his printmaking, especially in the 1960s–70s.
In the early 1980s, Air France commissioned Bezombes to design a suite of posters promoting world destinations and gastronomy. These bright, surreal collages—printed at Atelier Mourlot—became iconic examples of mid-century and late-modern French design.
Teaching & exhibitions
Beginning in 1954, Bezombes taught at the Académie Julian in Paris. He exhibited internationally throughout his career, including major retrospectives at the Musée de l’Athénée, Château Grimaldi, Musée de la Monnaie, Musée Réattu, and numerous shows across France, Europe, Japan, and the United States.
Style & legacy
Bezombes’ art merges painting, printmaking, collage, and medallic sculpture. His hallmarks include:
brilliant, saturated color
playful fish, fruit, totems, and talisman-like motifs
embossing, relief, and tactile surfaces
a synthesis of surrealism, design, and decorative arts
He remains celebrated for his ability to unify fine art and decorative art, and for transforming everyday symbols—fish, medals, masks—into spirited modern compositions.
Roger Bezombes (1913–1994), “The Monkfish Medallion,” c.1970s, color lithograph with embossing on paper, 22×28 in., pencil-signed and numbered 22/150. Provenance: Mitch Morse Gallery; Artfind Gallery, Washington, DC.
ARTFIND GALLERY – CERTIFICATE OF VALUE & AUTHENTICATION
Artist: Roger Bezombes (French, 1913–1994)
Title: The Monkfish Medallion
Date: c. 1970s
Medium: Original color lithograph with embossing on paper
Dimensions: 22 × 28 in. (sheet)
Edition: 22/150
Signature: Hand-signed “Roger Bezombes” in pencil; numbered lower margin
Condition: Vintage, with typical minor handling consistent with age
Provenance:
Artist / original publisher
Mitch Morse Gallery, NYC/Europe
Artfind Gallery, Washington, DC (current owner)
Artfind Gallery certifies that this work is, to the best of our knowledge, an authentic original lithograph by Roger Bezombes from a limited edition of 150 impressions.
Provenance chain
Roger Bezombes / Original Publisher, France (c.1970s)
Mitch Morse Gallery, acquired in New York / Europe
Artfind Gallery, Washington, DC — current owner
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