"Dame à carreaux".

Collage on paper, 22 x 15,5 cm, signed and dated in brown pen at lower left "Mariën". Dated 8/73.

Under gilt frame (not studied outside frame).

The Brussels artist and poet Marcel Mariën (1920-1993) can easily be considered one of the most intriguing, productive, but also most provocative figures of Belgian Surrealism. After a meeting with René Magritte in 1937 he joined the Brussels group of surrealists. His style includes erotic and even pornographic themes with playful touches. Today his works can be found in most major museums of modern art such as the MoMA, the Tate Modern or the Getty. The present collage with lady's stockings is very representative for Mariën's style in the 1970s, when he often used the motif of the playing card. He would later come back to this composition in a silk-screen print in 1983.
Ref. Not in the Catalogue Raisonné by the Fondation Marcel Mariën: https://catalogue-raisonne.fondation-marcel-marien.com/., similar to MM-M-10 (print) and MM-D-4 (drawing). - F. Casteleyns, "Marcel Mariën. L’œuvre graphique et les multiples", Anvers 2002, ill. p.20.