La Cuisinière. The Cook. by Édouard Vuillard, 1868-1940

Édouard Vuillard, 1868-1940
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La Cuisinière. The Cook.

Original lithograph in black ink. 1935. Rare proof before the edition of 150 (plus 20 proofs). Drawn and printed at the studio of Clot, 1935. Issued by Arts et Metiers Graphiques, Paris 1935, in the series: La Cuisine - Cooking.
Ref: Roger Marx - Vuillard L'Oeuvre Gravé 57, as completed.

Beautiful rich but subtle proof impression. On pale cream wove Van Gelder paper. Worked almost to full sheet size, as issued. Sheet: 15 x 11 1/8ins. Image overall: 12 1/2 x 9 1/4ins (318x235mm).

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This study, and its companion piece overleaf ?La Flambée?, are two of the most beautiful works in the later period of Vuillard?s work in the medium of lithography.

From his earliest years Vuillard was an artist with a very special feeling for the way that chalk on lithographic stone could be used to create effects of light and shade, of translucence and opacity, or of surface texture, which could not be made in any other manner. Always an artist for whom the act of drawing was of paramount importance he constantly refined and developed his drawing style over the years from the turn of the century to the 1930?s. When, after a break of some years, he returned to working in lithography in the late 1920?s and in the 30?s he used his new refinement of drawing, together with his inborn sense of all that was unique to lithography, to create just a few prints, as here and overleaf, which are of outstanding quality.

La Cuisinière was drawn as part of a small series on the theme of ?preparing a meal? which was to be issued in a special album (with an accompanying text) under the title of La Cuisine. This impression comes from a rare group of hand-printed and beautifully inked trial proofs pulled before the edition. In this form it is very rare.