British Museum
20 February – 9 August 2020
For the first time in over 40 years, the British Museum is to mount a major display of its collection of French prints, one of the best collections of its kind in the world. Nearly 80 important works by artists including Manet, Degas, Cézanne, Gauguin and Toulouse-Lautrec will go on show in the exhibition French Impressions: Prints from Manet to Cézanne, whichopens next week. Covering the last four decades of the 19thcentury, the exhibition provides an opportunity to view rarely seen artworks by some of France’s most famous artists.
While the period from 1860 to 1900 in France produced some of the world’s most famous paintings, the extensive – and hugely radical – prints that were also created in these years are now little-known. Many of the celebrated artists from this time embraced printmaking alongside their painting, but this output has come to be overshadowed. This free exhibition will therefore be a rare chance to explore how many French artists were at their most pioneering in print, producing some of their most unusual and unique compositions.
Highlights of the exhibition include Manet's rare 1862 print Le Ballon, of which only five impressions are known to survive. The work is like no other ever produced by Manet and is thought to have been influenced by Spanish artist Goya. Other works include two examples of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s colourful prints of actresses and Parisian music-hall stars, and Les Baigneurs (grande planchet) by Cézanne, one of only 8 prints ever made by the artist and a recreation of on his best-known paintings.
The last time the British Museum exhibited its French prints collection on this scale was in 1978, in an exhibition that focussed on one type of printmaking: lithography. This new display will encompass a much more varied selection of works, including etchings, aquatints and monotypes, allowing a more substantial survey of this transformative period. In another departure from the 1978 exhibition, female artists will be included, with work on show by Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt and Suzanne Valadon.
French Impressions will also examine the role of illustrated print journals that proliferated in the 1890s, and how these first helped establish the reputation of many French artists. On show will be a selection of prints from the hugely influential La Revue Blanche (acquired by the British Museum in 2018 and on display for the first time) as well as other significant artworks from L'Estampe Originale and L'Estampe Moderne.
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Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) Les Baigneurs (grandeplanche) c.1898. ©The Trustees of the British Museum
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Angelo Jank (1868-1940) La Femme au Perroquet c. 1898. ©The Trustees of the British Museum
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Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) Les Baigneurs (grandeplanche) c.1898. ©The Trustees of the British Museum
Angelo Jank (1868-1940) La Femme au Perroquet c. 1898. ©The Trustees of the British Museum
Paul Gauguin (1948-1903)Two Marquesans c. 1902. ©TheTrustees of the British Museum
Mary Cassatt (1844-1926). The coiffure; fourth and finalstate. 1891. ©The Trustees of the British Museum
Édouard Manet (1832-1883). Berthe Morisot: première planche 1884 edition. 1872-4. ©The Trustees of the British Museum
Édouard Manet (1832-1883) Le Ballon,1862. ©The Trusteesof the British Museum
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Divan Japonais1893. © TheTrustees of the British Museum
Richard Ranft. L'Ecuyere1898. © The Trustees of the British Museum
Édouard Vuillard. La Pâtisserie. 1899. © The Trustees of the British Museum