15. Auguste Lepère
(1849-1918)
Fin de Journée (The End of the Day)

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Lepère, Fin de Journée

Fin de Journée (The End of the Day)

Chiaroscuro woodcut (2 impressions), 1908, Texier-Bernier 512 i/iv and iv/iv, 214 x 145 mm. and 211 x 140 mm. Very fine impressions, the first a proof of the line block only on thin wove paper laid down to strong japan paper and with good margins, signed in pencil and inscribed “2e Et.” (sic), and with the Sagot blind stamp. T-B indicates that the first state is the line block alone, the second state the color block alone, so this is one of Lepère’s rare misstatements. The second is the completed print on laid paper with good margins, as published in L’Art et les Artistes, March, 1908. Though not mentioned by T-B, the block has been reduced 5 mm. at the right; the vertical disparities of the two impressions are due to different shrinkage rates of the two papers. Lepère played a major part in the revival of the chiaroscuro woodcut, a technique invented in the sixteenth century and hardly used since Goltzius and Büsinck. True to the nature of the technique, he makes no attempt at color description but simply uses black as his dark tone, tan as the middle tone and lets the natural color of the paper come through as the light.

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