8. Félix Bracquemond
(1833-1914)
Léon Cladel

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Bracquemond, Léon Cladel

Léon Cladel

Etching and drypoint, 1883, Béraldi 21 iii/iii, B. N. Inventaire 398, 330 x 267 mm. A fine impression on BFK Rives wove paper with full margins and with the purple stamp of L’Estampe-Originale (Lugt 887a). We know that Bracquemond taught Lepère how to etch, not only from the literature, but also because of his pencil notes and corrections on proof impressions of some of Lepère’s early etchings. Bracquemond was a master etcher, to be sure; the variety of etching techniques and strokes used here to portray and evoke the French symbolist writer Cladel (1835-1892) are proof of that. But the print has another reason to be associated with Lepère, and that is its publication in L’Estampe-Originale, a brave but short-lived cooperative effort by Bracquemond, Lepère, Vierge, and others to present to the public a yearly album of ten new, original prints in an edition of 100 and at a price of 100 francs. Sadly, the venture lasted only three years and probably no more than 50 impressions were made, rather than 100. A couple of years later, the title was taken up by André Marty, whose albums had considerably more success.

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