Queue devant la Boucherie. Queue in front of the Butcher's Shop, Siege of Paris 1870-71. by Édouard Manet, 1832-1883

Édouard Manet, 1832-1883
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Queue devant la Boucherie. Queue in front of the Butcher's Shop, Siege of Paris 1870-71.

Original etching in brown-black ink. 1870-71. From the edition of 100 impressions published by Strolin, 1905. (Note: Prior to this issue about 3 lifetime proofs exist, plus 30 impressions for the Dumont 1894 portfolio and a few for the 1890 Genevilliers album).
Ref: Guérin - Manet L'Oeuvre Gravé no 58; Bareau-Barès 64, first state of two before cancellation.
See: Fisher - The Prints of Manet, Detroit Museum 1985 no 53

Excellent impression of the Strolin issue. On pale cream laid Van Gelder paper. Generally excellent condition; some repaired worm holes in the extreme outer part of the wide margins. Full margins; sheet 17 7/8 x 12 3/4ins. Plate:9 ¼ x 6 1/4ins (236x159mm).

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This etching ?has been described as Manet?s masterpiece of printmaking, and a true Impressionist etching? (J.Fisher - Prints of Manet Detroit Museum 1985). It stands out in his oeuvre, and amongst the prints of the period, because it was conceived directly in terms of etching, without reference to another medium, and as a real essay in the realist sensation of light. The forms are expressed only as an arrangement of shadows and surfaces without any firm contour so that the eye reads them only through the relationship of light and dark.

The etching was drawn in 1871, at a time when Manet was no longer interested in selling editions of his prints. T was perhaps this which released him to be so experimental and creative. Only about 150 impressions of the etching exist prior to the cancellation of the plate.

The theme of the etching was the queues which would form in the early hours of the morning during the period of the Siege of Paris in 1871 when food was in very short supply.