Catherine Prepare le Tub et Louise Nue se Coiffe. Catherine Prepares the Bathtub whilst Louise does her Hair. by Suzanne Valadon, 1867-1938

Suzanne Valadon, 1867-1938
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Catherine Prepare le Tub et Louise Nue se Coiffe. Catherine Prepares the Bathtub whilst Louise does her Hair.

Original softground etching in black ink with ink tone. 1895. Signed in pencil. Extremely rare early (1895) proof. One of a very few known impressions. (Not included in the 1932 Daragnès reprint edition of Valadon's etchings). Hand-printed possibly on the press used by Degas.
Ref: Petrides - Valadon L'Oeuvre Gravé no E7.
Prov: Edmond Sagot, Paris c.1895. Collection H. Neuerburg.

Extremely fine richly tonal impression with plate tone in black in. On beige slightly textured soft wove paper. Excellent original condition. Full margins. Sheet: 12 3/4 x 16 1/4ins. Plate: 9 x 10 7/8ins (228x276mm)

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A very rare early proof, one of just a tiny number of impressions printed at the time in 1895 when Valadon etched the plate. Almost all the impressions of Valadon's prints which appear on the market are from the reissued editions printed by Daragnès for Valadon in 1932. This study exists in only a few 1895 proofs.

Valadon was one of the most individual artists of the impressionist circle. She started life as a circus performer but an accident cut short her career and she took-up painting. Entirely self-taught she began to show work in Montmartre where it attracted the attention of Renoir, Lautrec and in particular of Degas. He greatly admired the powerful realism of her themes and the natural but subtle force of her drawing. With his encouragement she also started to make etchings. Degas suggested to her that soft-ground would be an etching medium which would suit her style, allowing her to exploit the textural quality in her drawing. The study of 'Catherine Preparing the Tub', above, is worked in this softground medium.

Valadon's themes were almost always those of intimate domestic life but captured with a forceful realism and very strong line. She made her first etchings, in softground as here, in 1895, but printed only a very small number of proofs. This work is amongst her very first, but it underlines the immediate innate power and individuality of her inspiration.