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Fumeur au
Grand Chapeau
Clément-Janin
71
drypoint, 1888, on heavy
cream wove paper, an undetermined and undescribed state (of three?*),
a fine (and possibly unique?) impression, with burr, signed and
dedicated in pencil "à l'ami Desnoyers, Sympathie
artistique, M Desboutin" by the artist, with wide margins,
some localized light foxing, notably in a narrow band across
the brim of the hat to the brow, faint overall lightstaining,
a short tear (8 mm) in the lower edge, traces of glue along the
sheet edges on the reverse from an old backboard, otherwise in
very good condition
P. 250x192mm., S. 440x340mm.
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An intimate friend of
both Manet and Degas, often working side by side with one or the
other, Desboutin was part of the first wave of impressionism,
which Degas then called the "realist movement." Resolutely
committed to its aims, Desboutin maintained an unswerving devotion
to candid and refined observation in his drypoint prints, often
annotating them "directe d'après nature"
and working them up with a masterful spontaneity, as if sketching.
Among the most moving of these are self-portraits, such as the
one presented here, reminiscent of Rembrandt.
His prints were however
very seldom editioned, and almost never steel-faced, being generally
pulled in small runs of a few proofs as he saw fit, and often
given away to his friends and acquaintances. His drypoints are
thus most often rare: for this print, Clément-Janin remarks
only some fifteen impressions known.
The dedication is to
Fernand Desnoyers, writer and art critic, a noted proponent of
"realism" and the author of Le Salon des Refusés,
Paris, 1863.
* The Inventaire des
Fonds Français cites three states that are not developed
in any of the known catalogues; we have examined the three impressions
in the Bibliothèque Nationale, and while there seem
to be at least two states (to which the present impression does
not fully conform), our conclusions do not concur: e.g., the very
fine unsigned proof from the Moreau-Nelaton collection, considered
by Melot 1994 to be a third state, is suffused with burr, and
clearly before the additional detail, notably to the face and
hands, that is found in both the present proof and the other two
BN impressions. See Michel Melot, L'Estampe Impressionniste,
1994: 131 (unfortunately with erroneous title, date, and dimensions)
It should be recalled
that Clément-Janin noted that Desboutin almost always retouched
his plates in the course of printing and that these incessant
corrections, most often slight, nevertheless constitute as many
states ["Desboutins retouchait presque toujours ses cuivres
en cours de tirage et que ses corrections incessantes, la plupart
du temps légères, n'en constituent pas moins autant
d'états"]. In any case the present proof is to
be considered a choice impression, if only because of the warm
dedication it bears.
