Framed Felix Hilaire Buhot Drypoint Etching “L'Orage (The Storm)”, 1879

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Up for sale is this Felix Buhot drypoint etching after an original landscape of Branch Hill Pond in Hampstead painted … Read more Up for sale is this Felix Buhot drypoint etching after an original landscape of Branch Hill Pond in Hampstead painted by John Constable in several compositions. Framed in black wood with an overall size of 20" x 15" and an image size of 15" x 9", it is in very good, gently-used condition with some age-toning, as pictured. We particularly love the vignettes along the left edge, one of Buhot's trademarks, and the horse and wagon over his signature in the plate, lower left.

About the artist:

Among the most original prints made in France during the last quarter of the nineteenth century are those by Félix Buhot. Born in 1847 in the small Normandy town of Valognes, in northern France, Buhot moved to Paris in 1865, where a year later he enrolled in the École des Beaux-Arts, studying painting and drawing under various artists. Buhot first learned to etch in about 1873, producing his first etching later that year and quickly establishing himself as a successful printmaker. The young artist made his living by decorating fans and illustrating lithographic sheet music. Buhot lived and worked most of his life in Paris, with frequent visits back to northern France and extended trips to England where he met his wife, Henrietta Johnston, whom he married in 1881. By 1892 Buhot had ceased making prints, and in 1898, after suffering prolonged bouts of deep depression, he died at the age of fifty-one.

Along with Edgar Degas and Camille Pissarro, Félix Buhot numbers among the most experimental printmakers of his day. In exploring the unique aspects of etching, he developed an approach to printmaking that was very painterly; in fact he called his prints "paintings on copper." Unlike many contemporary printmakers who disliked photography, Buhot heartily embraced the medium and used it as a creative aid. Using multiple processes on a single print (such as etching, drypoint, aquatint, and photomechanical reproduction), Buhot sought to achieve the maximum number of images he could derive from a single plate, which he printed on alternative papers, often soaked in coffee or tea. The resulting images (usually atmospheric seascapes and cities of England and France) varied in weather or time of day; a single image could have dark skies in one variation and a misty fog in the next. Buhot called his work "paintings on copper".

His most original contribution to the history of printmaking is a device he termed marges symphoniques (symphonic margins): by amplifying the main subject, such illustrations became an integral part of the print.

In his many prints of city views and seascapes, Buhot was intent on creating a specific atmosphere, especially the effects of weather such as rain, snow, mist, and fog. Buhot's love for the sea is evidenced in the many prints exploring its ever-changing atmospheric conditions and moods. With his experimental printmaking techniques, Buhot became one of the best-known, admired, and collected printmakers of his day. He achieved success for his prints at the annual Salons between 1875 and 1886, and a number of his works were published in leading periodicals and books. He also found critical acclaim and support for his prints in the United States, especially after his first one-man exhibition organized by the New York print dealer Frederick Keppel in 1888. See less