19. Félix Buhot
(1847-1898)

Le Retour des Artistes aux Champs-Elysées

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Buhot, Le Retour des Artistes

Le Retour des Artistes aux Champs-Elysées

Etching, drypoint and aquatint, 1877, 206 x 317 mm., Bourcard/Goodfriend 125 iii/iv. Very fine, atmospheric impression of the scarce state before the text and before publication, on laid paper with large margins and with the red owl stamp (Lugt 977) in the center of the lower margin. The rainy scene depicts the return of the artists to the Champs-Elysées on the evening of the final day for sending paintings to the Salon, March 20 at 6 PM, according to the inscription in the image, March 19 according to an etched inscription just below it (Buhot sometimes could just not make up his mind). But the image conveys all that one could ask for in a Buhot Parisian image: rainy weather, umbrellas, horse-drawn cabs and the sense of a particular time and place fixed in the mind for all time. Nostalgia even for us who were not there.