Louis Welden Hawkins, Liseuses / Readers, 1899, Original Lithograph

Details

Description

Louis Welden Hawkins (1849 - 1910)

Liseuses
(Readers)

Original Lithograph from the glorious portfolio "L'Estampe Moderne", issue #22 (February 1899)

… Read more Louis Welden Hawkins (1849 - 1910)

Liseuses
(Readers)

Original Lithograph from the glorious portfolio "L'Estampe Moderne", issue #22 (February 1899)

On wove paper

Year: 1899

Size (sheet): 405 x 305 mm
Size (image): 307 x 253 mm

Signed in the plate, bottom

Blind stamp of the publisher, bottom right, out of the image

Excellent condition: minor signs of age
Great colours
Full margins (not cropped, not trimmed)

Same print in:
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, inventory: 2014.695.nn

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About the Collection (L'Estampe Moderne)

L'Estampe Moderne appeared in 1897-1899 as a series of 24 monthly fascicles, each containing 4 original lithographs, printed by Parisian Imprimerie Champenois. Many accomplished European Art Nouveau painters contributed works to this publication, which contained only Original prints invented and produced especially for this collection. The publication was edited by Charles Masson and H. Piazza. Each issue came in a paper cover bearing an original lithograph by Alphonse Mucha.
Each lithograph was accompanied by a tissue containing the details (title of the artwork, name of the artist, etc.) and a short text by a well-known author who inspired the artist (this one being by Paul Delaroche).
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About the artist

Louis Welden Hawkins (1849–1910) was a Symbolist painter. He was born in Stuttgart of English parents, later taking French nationality.

He soon moved to France and later took French nationality. He attended the Académie Julian in Paris. Hawkins rose to fame after his expositions in the Salon de la Société des Artistes Francais. His first works were shown in the Salon in 1881. After that, expositions followed at the Salon de la Société des Beaux-Arts (1894–1911), the Salon de la Rose + Croix (1894–95) and La Libre Esthétique in Brussels.

He was also friendly with artists such as James Abbott McNeill Whistler and Auguste Rodin, whose portrait he painted.

After his education at the Académie Julian, Hawkins chose the path of Symbolism. Symbolism began as an artistic movement that developed from Romanticism in France in the second half of the 19th century, taking its themes of decadence, dandyism and mysticism. Symbolism was a reaction to Impressionism. Symbolist painting emphasised fantasy and imagination in their depiction of objects. Symbolist artists often used metaphors and symbols to suggest a subject and favoured mystical themes. Hawkins became famous because of his fine and dreamy female portraits.

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from the text on the tissue paper, by Paul Delaroche:

Sous le soleil cru de midi qui dardait ses rayons de feu, elles s'étaient arrêtées toutes deux pour feuilleter curieusement le livre qu'elles venaient de trouver parmi les trèfles roses qui bordent la route et, à quelques pas d'elles à peine, le duc pouvait contempler leurs silhouettes de robustes petites paysannes, le teint chaud et coloré de leurs visages pleins de santé, leurs grands yeux clairs — qu'elles levaient par moment - limpides comme une eau de lac et reflétant la simplicité, la bonté de leurs charmantes petites âmes\. Et il se surprenait à penser que peut-être là eût été pour lui le bonheur véritable: dans le choix librement consenti, au mépris de toutes conventions et de toute hypocrisie sociale, d'une de ces belles jeunes filles, d'âme et de corps sains, qui viendrait rendre à la faiblesse de sa race de grands seigneurs, épuisée par plusieurs quartiers de noblesse, le sang généreux et fort nécessaire d'abord, dans notre société moderne, pour les luttes de la vie.

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Important:

. The listing is for the original print, in the above mentioned very good / excellent condition.
. The original tissue paper introduction has some folds and tears, especially along the margins, and it will be given as is to the buyer as a gift for confirming the authenticity.
. The cover by Mucha is shown as a reference This piece has an attribution mark,
I am sure that it is completely authentic and take full responsibility for any authenticity
issues arising from misattribution See less