Color lithograph, 1968. 600x1040 mm; 23¾x41 inches (sheet), full margins. A color proof impression, aside from the published edition in black and white of 200. Signed in white pencil, lower right. Printed by Mourlot, Paris. Published by Imprimerie Nationale, Paris. A very good impression of this extremely scarce lithograph.
Canto General was Pablo Neruda's tenth book of poems, first published in Mexico in 1950, and illustrated with designs by Neruda's artist friends Siqueiros (1896-1974) and Diego Rivera (1886-1957). The work consists of 15 sections, 231 poems and more than 15,000 lines, and attempts to be an encyclopedia of the entire American Western Hemisphere, or New World, from a Hispanic-American perspective. Following its first publication in 1950, Neruda and Siqueiros reunited to produce a portfolio of 10 large lithographs by Siqueiros, one of which is the current work, and selections from the poem by Neruda.
