Boutiques sur le Port. Quay-side Shops by Jean Emile Laboureur, 1877-1943

Jean Emile Laboureur, 1877-1943
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Boutiques sur le Port. Quay-side Shops

Original etching in black ink. 1912. Signed in pencil. Numbered in pencil from the edition of 30 (only 22 impressions exist including working proofs-the remaining projected 8 impressions were never printed). This is one of only 10 impressions, plus 3 proofs, printed by Laboureur and signed in 1912. (A further 9 impressions were printed posthumously in 1989; the plate was then marked but preserved in the Laboureur archive. Very rare.
Ref: Laboureur - The Complete Catalogue of the Prints no 111

Beautiful rich and tonal impression. On pale cream laid paper. Generally excellent condition; the slightest signs of old mounting in the margins only. With small (? full) margins. Image to the borderline: 6 Ľ x 14 7/8ins (159x277mm)

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Boutiques sur le Port is a beautiful, and very rare, example of Laboureur's unique and personal etching style from the period just after he settled in Paris before the First War. The subject is taken from studies made on the Paris quais.

At this date Laboureur's style reflects both his earliest admiration for Post-Impressionism and the intimacy of the Nabis artists, and also his growing concentration on form and space. The long panorama-like format of this etching, and the way he has silhouetted the figures against the light coming from inside the bar and the hairdresser's salon, show the compositional invention which is to mark all his mature work. The theme of shops and city life was one which was to fascinate him throughout his life.

Laboureur's unique and personal inspiration as an etcher and engraver has ensured him a lasting position amongst the major French printmakers of the first half of this century.